


Life is a Fairy Tale (Fairy Tales are Awful)

by huntress489



Series: Life is a Fairy Tale [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Body Dysphoria, Childhood Friends, Clexa Endgame, Coming Out, Deepwater Horizon, Disney World, Dubious Consent, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Happily Ever After, Homophobic Language, Hurricane Katrina, It's not angst it's a felony, Loss of Virginity, Minor Character Death, Puberty, September 11 Attacks, Sexist Language, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, True Hermaphroditism, Xenophobia, clexa baby, intersex lexa, transphobic language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-09-21 10:38:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 30
Words: 108,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9544229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huntress489/pseuds/huntress489
Summary: Fairy tales start idyllic and get happy endings, everything in between is usually pretty awful.Clarke and Lexa are seven when they meet in 'The Most Magical Place on Earth.'  From that moment on they are inseparable.   Lexa is a shy girl with a problem, Clarke is a bit of a calamity.  With Clarke beside her, Lexa comes out of her shell.  With Lexa beside her, Clarke is more tempered.The only problem is that the vacation must end sometime and they live a thousand miles apart.Follow Clarke and Lexa from the moment they meet to the day they get married.





	1. March 2001:  Part One

**Author's Note:**

> Tags will probably update with each chapter.
> 
> As a point of clarification, this Lexa is not trans, she is biologically female. She has two X chromosomes and ovotesties presenting as a penis and testicles. Her condition is under the True Hermaphroditism heading. In this characters case, a female zygote developed and was exposed to a large amount of testosterone somewhere between 6 and 12 weeks of development. Statistically, she's 1 in 50,000 or so.

**_March 19, 2001_ **

Clarke learned about Lexa’s extra appendage before they even knew each other's names.

Lexa was 7 years old the spring that an 8 year old Clarke accidentally mowed her down trying to get in line for Peter Pan’s Flight in Fantasyland.  Clarke was running, something that is frowned upon at Disney World for this very reason, tripped (most likely over her own two feet, Clarke was never the most graceful of girls), and fell into Lexa.  Embarrassingly, (more for Lexa than for Clarke) when Clarke realized she had plowed into someone, found her knee jammed into Lexa’s crotch.  For a child with female anatomy, this wasn’t a situation that caused pain.  For a child with male anatomy, it was excruciating.  For Lexa, it was both mentally and physically excruciating.

Clarke looked up to the face of the latest victim of her clumsy nature and saw tears leaking from the prettiest green eyes she had ever seen.

Lexa had never been more humiliated.  She hated her genitalia, it was a mistake.  Lexa had once punched a kid on the playground for saying ‘God doesn’t make mistakes.’  This led to a very long talk with her father about faith and belief.

When Lexa was three, the gender dysphoria began.  Lexa was born Alexander Woods.  Imagine her parents surprise when young Alex began insisting that she was a girl.  Gus and Roma Woods tried to be good, understanding parents.  They changed little Alex’s diapers for two years, after all.  But when the screaming and crying meltdowns began, the Woods sought help.  The child psychologist suggested that the simplest explanation was the most likely and referred the Woods’ to a medical doctor.  Scanning and genetic testing revealed that young Alex was genetically female, presenting with a penis and ovotestis.  

Had young Alex been diagnosed at birth, the Woods parents may have agreed to surgery.  But as Alex was already three, the pain and stress of the surgery seemed like the wrong choice.  As young Alex was unequipped to make the informed decision herself, Gus and Roma chose to let Alex make the decision when she turned 18.  Gus and Roma meanwhile donated all of Alex’s boy clothes and replaced them with girl clothes and legally changed her name from Alexander Woods to Alexandra Woods.  Alex became Lexa (because according to Anya, Alex still sounded too boyish) and grew long chestnut curls.  

Lexa’s biggest advocate in those early years was her older sister, Anya. Anya was six years older than Lexa, born when Gus was seventeen and still in high school. Upon graduation he enlisted in the Army Corps of Engineers. Anya’s mother disappeared before Anya’s first birthday leaving Anya and Gus alone. At a loss for how to raise his firstborn alone, Gus took night classes at the AEC, between his homework, his job, and his daughter, Augustus Woods didn’t sleep for the better part of three years. After the first year on their own, Gus filed for divorce on the grounds of abandonment.

Anya was four and the Woods’ were stationed in Memphis, Tennessee when Gus met Roma, a civilian contractor for the CoE.  They dated for a year before Gus proposed, Lexa was conceived that very night.  A fact seven year old Lexa wished she didn’t know.

A year after Lexa was officially recognized as a girl, Roma Woods died in a car accident.  She died on impact when an overly tired semi driver fell asleep and crossed the median on I-40.  Lexa didn’t really remember Roma, anymore.  Lexa’s memories of her mother had become more Gus and Anya’s stories than memories.  She remembered photos she had seen more than memories of her mother. When Lexa thought of her mother, she more often than not thought of Anya.  Her older sister adored Roma and told Lexa about her all the time.  Anya was the unwanted, motherless child.  Roma wanted her, Roma was special to Anya.

Gus met Indra last year.  It wasn’t that the girls didn’t like Indra, she was firm but kind, she treated the girls well, but they hadn’t quite found their footing.  This family trip was combination honeymoon and family bonding.  

Now Lexa was flat on her back with a pretty blond girl’s knee applying way to much pressure to a very sensitive and very unwanted body part.  A pretty blond girl with the bluest eyes Lexa had ever seen. Lexa's stomach swooped in a way that had nothing to do with the cupcake she had eaten.

Clarke seemed to have gotten lost in those pretty green eyes.  She watched in awe as fat tears rolled down the girl’s cheeks before finding her voice.  “Please don’t cry.  I didn’t mean to knock you down.  Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Your knee,” Lexa said between her tears.

Suddenly, Clarke understood.  Not completely, she was only eight years old, but she had taken some advice from her father in dealing with playground bullies not long ago and Lexa’s weren’t the first genitals Clarke’s knee had assaulted.  She didn’t quite understand why this pretty little girl had boy parts, but she could see the pain, fear, and shame on the chestnut haired girls face.

At that moment, Jake Griffin called out a phrase that he would shout some variation of many more times over the years, “Clarke, get off that poor girl!”  Over the years, _Clarke, get off of Lexa!_ would become something of a catchphrase for Jake. Years down the road he would shout it before walking into any room they might be in together.

“It’s okay,” Clarke said.  “I won’t tell anyone.  Please don’t cry.”

Lexa’s tears slowed and stopped.  “Thank you,” she said so softly that if Clarke hadn’t been looking at Lexa she wouldn’t have known it was said.

“Clarke, sweetheart, you have to watch where you’re going!”  Clarke’s mother called as she knelt to help Clarke up.   

When Jake and Abby Griffin looked around for the parents of the little girl their daughter had crashed into, they found Gus and Indra Woods.  A lanky, teenaged Anya watched the scene coolly.

“I’m so sorry,” Jake said holding out a hand for Gus to shake.  “Our Clarke is a bit of a calamity.”

Gus shook Jake’s proffered hand and grinned.  “Calamity seems like the right word.”

Meanwhile Clarke had helped Lexa to her feet.  “I’m Clarke Griffin.  You want to ride Peter Pan with me?”

Lexa studied Clarke for a moment.  “I’m Lexa Woods and I do.”

Jake looked at Gus, “We’re Jake and Abby Griffin and I think we’re riding Peter Pan together.”

Gus chuckled, “Gus and Indra Woods, the surly teenager is Anya.”  To emphasize the point, Anya rolled her eyes and scowled at passing children.

The queue for Peter Pan’s flight was 25 minutes.  In that time, Clarke and Lexa became best friends.  They began to plan out the rest of their day in the Magic Kingdom while the rest of their families looked on and the adults got to know each other.

“We live in D.C.,” Gus was saying.  “I’m with the Army Corps of Engineers.  Indra works for the Defense Department.”

“I’m an engineer, too!  I work with a firm in New Orleans,” Jake laughed.  “Abby is a surgeon at Tulane.”

Indra chatted with Abby and occasionally gave Anya a dirty look for snarling at young children for being too exuberant.  “Tomorrow, you can stay at the hotel and terrorize the kids at the pool, okay?”  Indra waited for an acknowledgement.  When Anya nodded, Indra continued, “Good, now less snarling.”  

Anya plastered on an even more terrifying fake smile.  “Oh, never mind, scowl, mope,” her stepmother said.

As the day wore on Lexa and Clarke shared a Dole Whip while in the Enchanted Tiki Room, stormed the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, napped on each other in the Hall of Presidents (the second instance of Jake saying ‘Clarke get off of Lexa’ was uttered at the end of the show as he tried to rouse his groggy daughter), and sat side by side on every ride.  They rode the Haunted Mansion together three times.  The third time the rest of their families waited by the hearse.  As the pair walked over, hand in hand, Clarke made an announcement, “We’re hungry!”

“Did you decide where we were eating as well, little lion?”  Gus asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Clarke nods decisively.  “Lexa wants pizza.”

“And what does Clarke want?”  Abby asked.

Lexa had always been shy around strangers.  On the third day of Kindergarten, Gus got a phone call from a very frustrated Principal who wanted to know why Lexa’s mutism wasn’t listed on her registration forms.  Gus had to go to the school and ask Lexa a question to prove that she wasn’t mute, just very shy.  Needless to say, Lexa’s quick attachment and willingness to talk to Clarke was surprising to her father, so what happened next was downright shocking.

“Clarke wants french fries,” Lexa smiled.

Anya, who had turned being a sullen teenager on a forced family vacation into an art form, was so surprised that she forgot to be surly and object to eating theme park food.

****

\-----

****

Evening had fallen, despite a second nap on the Carousel of Progress (Clarke wanted to go around again because she fell asleep and missed singing along.  This time it was Gus’ turn to say ‘Clarke, get off of Lexa,’ his first, there were going to be a lot more, the girls were fading fast.

“Maybe we should call it a day and go back to our hotels?”  Indra suggested as they moved from Tomorrowland back into the Castle hub area.

“No!” Clarke and Lexa whined in unison.  Clarke added, “I want to watch the fireworks with Lexa!”

“Where are you staying?” Abby asked.

“The Caribbean Beach resort,” Indra replied.

Jake laughed, “It must be fate.”

Clarke and Lexa leaned on each other, arm in arm, as they found a spot to watch the parade and fireworks.  Anya stood behind them, glaring at anyone who got too close.  She tried not to like the loud little blonde that was wrapped around her baby sister.  But when Lexa looked so happy and comfortable in such a large crowd, Anya had to admit, maybe Clarke wasn’t so bad.  Abby was nice and talked to her like an adult, Jake told awful dad jokes that made Lexa smile, not because she thought they were funny, but because they were awful.  Despite herself, Anya liked the Griffins.

Nobody was sure how Clarke and Lexa managed to fall asleep sitting up on the curb during the fireworks.  Clarke’s head was tucked under Lexa’s chin while her hand tangled in her long dark curls.  Lexa’s arms were wrapped around Clarke’s waist and joined at her hip.  Gus picked up Lexa and Jake picked up Clarke.  The fathers had to walk side by side so their daughters could hold hands.  On the bus to the resort, the fathers had to sit together, so Clarke and Lexa could continue to hold hands. Only Anya noticed Indra and Abby making plans for the morning, she smirked.

All things considered, nobody was surprised when they got off at the same stop at the Caribbean Resort and headed in the direction of the same building.  The Woods’ and the Griffin’s were right next door to each other. Jake and Gus tried to quietly pull the girls apart.  It ended with Gus holding both girls.  “Jake, a little help here.”

“Clarke, get off of Lexa.” Three times for Jake.  “We’re going to get some rest.  Lexa will be right next door, look.”  He pointed to Indra opening their room door and Anya slipping in.  He used her distraction to tug Clarke back into his arms.

Gus spoke softly to his baby girl, “It’s time to say goodnight, Monkey.”

For the second time that day, fat tears rolled down Lexa’s cheeks.  “I don’t want to say goodbye to Clarke.”

“Not goodbye, Monkey, goodnight.”

“You can see each other in the morning, I promise,” Jake told them.

The girls reached for each other again and hugged as best they could while restrained by their fathers.  “Goodnight, Clarke,”  Lexa kissed Clarke’s cheek.  “Goodnight, Lexa,” the kissed was returned.  Then to Jake, “Lexa wants a Mickey Waffle in the morning.”

Lexa mumbled sleepily, “Clarke wants powdered donuts.”

“Clarke is not getting powdered donuts for breakfast in the morning,” Abby warned.

****

\-----

****

**_March 20, 2001_ **

Jake’s alarm buzzed and Clarke practically leapt from her bed.  

“Do you think she’s more excited for the park or to see Lexa?”  Abby asked groggily.

Clarke was already in the bathroom when Jake replied, “Definitely, Lexa.”

Jake rolled over and kissed his wife.  Ten years of marriage and he was still hopelessly in love with Abby.

The bathroom door flung open with a loud bang as Clarke raced to brush her teeth.  “C’mon, get up!”

“If the Woods’ weren’t up already, they are now,” Abby chuckled.

****

\-----

****

Anya shot bolt upright when the room next door banged loud enough to rattle the bed she and Lexa slept in.  “I’ve been shot!”

Lexa leapt out of bed and ran for the bathroom.  In her haste she failed to even close the door at all.  Upon confirming that she had not actually been shot, Anya fell back onto her pillow.  

“Lex,” Gus called sleepily, “we can all hear you peeing.”

Lexa’s only response was to flush the toilet and move out to the sink to brush her teeth.

“Lex, sweetheart, are you in a hurry to get somewhere?”  Gus teased as he moved past her into the bathroom.

“She’s got a hot date with the cute little blonde next door.”  Anya muttered with the disdain only a thirteen year old being denied sleep can muster.  She grabbed Lexa’s pillow, clamped it over her head and slipped back off to sleep.

“Ah, first love,” Indra chuckled as she started to move about the room getting ready for the day.

Lexa ignored them while she rinsed and spit.  She wiped her mouth on her nightshirt as she pulled it over her head and tossed it in the vague direction of Indra’s designated dirty clothes pile.  Clad only in her Mickey Mouse briefs she padded over to her suitcase and pulled out a Mulan t-shirt and a pair of shorts.  She pulled the shirt over her head and pulled on her shorts as she walked back over to where her sneakers got left the night before.

“You need socks, Lexa,” Indra observed from the sink area.

Lexa paused in her shoe installation mission and looked down at her feet as if they had betrayed her on purpose.  Lexa stood up from where she had plopped on the floor and walked back over to her suitcase, jumbling most of the contents in search of a pair of socks.   With socks in hand, Lexa returned to her shoes.  

Socks on, shoes tied, Lexa did a quick check to ensure her readiness to appear in public.  Satisfied she nodded and headed for the door.

“Lex,” Gus called after her from his place at the sink.  “You need to tame your mane.”

Lexa paused, defeated again.  She trudged, yes trudged, to the sink where her father waited with a brush and ponytail holder.  She allowed Gus to brush out her wild curls and put it up in a ponytail with minimal complaint.  “Now can I go see Clarke?”

“Go, Monkey,” Gus’ eyes crinkled when he smiled.  “Knock softly, if they aren’t up yet you come right back here, okay?”

“Okay, Poppa Bear,” Lexa agreed and ran for the door as Indra came out of the bathroom dried and dressed.

“Don’t sl--” Gus spoke too late as the door slammed behind Lexa.

Anya shot upright in the bed again.  “We’re under attack!”  Anya glanced around the room.  Once she had ascertained that they were not in fact under attack, she fell back onto the bed.  “Fucking Lexa,” she grumbled.

“Language,”  Gus and Indra admonished in unison.

****

\-----

****

“How about now, can I go now?”  It was the thirty-fourth time Clarke had asked to see Lexa since she finished brushing her teeth.  She asked between putting on articles of clothing.  She asked between strokes of her hair brush.  She asked while Abby braided her hair to keep it out of the way.  She asked while she put on her shoes and again while she tied them.

Jake was standing at the table with his backpack checking to make sure they had everything they needed for the day, Abby’s custom first aid kit, park tickets, camera, extra batteries and film for the camera.  “Hold your horses, fruit of my loins.”

“You’re gross, Dad.”

“It’s just biology, Clarke.  You are the best thing to ever come out of me and that includes the time I passed that silver dollar.”

“Mom, make him stop.”

“Jake, behave,” Abby handed Jake her wallet to add to the backpack.  “I think that’s everything.”

Just then a soft knock on the door sent Clarke into a flying leap for the door knob.  She flung open the door with enough force that Anya probably shot out of the bed again next door.  

“Lexa!”  Clarke shouted when she saw the skinny brunette.  Clarke threw herself at Lexa, wrapping her in a tight hug.  Lexa didn’t hesitate to hug Clarke back just as tightly.  They might have clung to each other for a lot longer than was necessarily appropriate.  “I missed you,” Clarke muttered into Lexa’s neck.

“Good morning, Lexa,” Jake greeted, popping his head around the door frame.  “Did you know that Clarke is the fruit of my loins?”

“Gross, Mr. Griffin.”

“Dad!”

“Jake!”

Gus, for such a large fellow was pretty stealthy, so even Lexa was surprised when he spoke.  “I don’t know what you’re so grossed out about, Monkey, you’re the fruit of my loins.”

Both girls groaned.

“Alright, no more discussion of loins at least until after breakfast!”  Abby declared.  “Good morning, Gus.  Good morning, Lexa.”

“Good morning, Griffins,” Gus greeted.  “Indra will meet us at the food court.  Anya needs her sleep.”

****

\-----

****

An hour later, Gus, Lexa, Jake, Abby, and Clarke were waiting at EPCOT for rope drop.  Indra and Anya were having a bonding day at the resort.

“I want to go on the Living Seas!  Oh, Figment!  Oh, and the dinosaurs!”  Clarke rambled.  “Do you like dinosaurs, Lex?”

“I like dinosaurs, Clarke.  But not the chase you around and eat you dinosaurs, I like brachiosaurus and triceratops.”  Lexa said.  This was her first trip to Disney World and she didn’t really know what to expect outside of what she had seen on television.  “What else is fun here?”

This was Clarke’s second trip to Disney World.  The Griffin’s had first visited two years ago and Clarke begged and begged to come back.  She considered herself a bit of a expert.  “The best thing at EPCOT is the pastry shop in France.”

“Pastries?”

Clarke nodded seriously.

****

\----

****

Two hours later Clarke and Lexa exited Journey into Your Imagination with Jake, Abby, and Gus following behind.

“Figment used to be awesome, now this ride sucks!”  Clarke complained.  “What happened to Dreamfinder?  They took Figment out of his own ride!  How could they do this to me?!”

“I don’t think it was a personal slight against you, sweetheart,” Abby reasoned.

“I can fix this, watch,” Jake told the other adults.  “Who wants to go get a chocolate croissant?”

“I do!”  Clarke jumped excitedly.

“Can I get one, Daddy?”  Lexa asked Gus.

“Of course you can, Monkey.”

****

\-----

****

Another few hours had passed.  Clarke ate her way across the World Showcase, Lexa helped her consume delights from around the globe and held her hand the whole time.  Lexa, a more studious child, noticed details and pointed them out to Clarke.  Clarke, a free spirit with an artist’s eye, stopped to appreciate all of the details Lexa showed her.  

The school bread from the bakery on the Norway Pavilion was Clarke’s downfall.  With a stomach ache they queued up for Maelstrom.  Clarke curled into Lexa and tried to pretend that she hadn’t overdone it on the sweets after Abby had warned her that she could get a stomach ache.

Clarke and Lexa sat alone in the back row of the boat.  If Clarke was going to blow chunks she didn’t want to do it where everyone could see.

Lexa noting Clarke’s discomfort scooted close and put her arm around the blonde.  The boat started to move in the dark and Clarke laid her head on Lexa’s shoulder.  Lexa smelled like coconut, vanilla, and maybe a dash of the chocolate gelato they shared at the Italy Pavilion.  At first, Clarke thought it would make her feel sicker.  Lexa did make her stomach swoop, but not in a bad way.  Clarke nuzzled into Lexa’s neck, smelling the girl herself under the food smells.  Lexa smelled like citrus and sunshine.

“You smell good,” Clarke mumbled.  If her face hadn’t been so close to Lexa’s ear she wouldn’t have heard it at all.

“You can’t still be hungry,” Lexa said disbelieving.  

Clarke shook her head.  “I’m not, you just smell really good.”

“You squished a piece of funnel cake in my ear earlier,” Lexa chuckled.

“I forgot about that.”  Clarke couldn’t explain what she was feeling.  It was dark and kind of loud in the ride, but Clarke missed all of it happily snuggled into her new best friend.  Lexa was better than Disney World.  Or maybe she was better than Maelstrom, but that was just silly.  

Twenty minutes later boarding El Rio del Tiempo, the words came to Clarke.  “Hey, Lex,” she whispered.

“Yes, Clarke?”

“I think you’re my favorite thing at Disney World.”

Lexa thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest.

****

\-----

****

“Can we go back to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow, Dad?”  Clarke was wrapped around Lexa standing against a fence in the International Gateway waiting for the fireworks to start.

“We planned to go to Disney/MGM tomorrow.  Star Tours and Muppets, remember sweetheart?”

“Star Tours!”  Clarke exclaimed!  It was Jake that really liked the Muppets.

“But Muppets, Clarke!”  Jake said.  “You have to sit with me!”

“I like the Muppets, Mr. Griffin,” Lexa said softly.  “I’ll sit with you.”

“Great!  You can call me Jake, now.  Listen Gus, I’m keeping Lex and you can take Clarke back to DC with you.”

“DAD!”

“JAKE!”

“I don’t know if Anya would be okay with that, she’s pretty partial to Lexa.”

“Eh, we’ll work out the details later.”

“DAD!”

“CLARKE!”

“I’ll send you to DC with Mr. Woods and I’ll keep Lexa!”

“That’s just silly, Clarke.  Who will make sure your mother eats?”

The music and fireworks started and ended that line of discussion.

****

\-----

****

Clarke and Lexa fell asleep on each other on the bus ride back to the resort.

The usual amount of whining and complaining occurred at the door to the Griffin's hotel room.

"Were having breakfast together in the morning, Monkey," Gus soothed.

"Lexa is going to sit next to me on Muppetvision, because you suck," Jake told a sleepy Clarke.

"Mom!"  Clarke whined loudly.

"Jake."

"Tattletale."

Clarke clutched at Lexa before kissing her on the cheek.  "Goodnight, Lexa."

Sleepy Lexa blushed and kissed Clarke's cheek in return.  "Goodnight, Clarke."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://fairytalesareawful.tumblr.com/


	2. March 2001:  Part Two

**_March 21, 2001_ **

****

The morning started much like the previous morning, two little girls rushing morning rituals to get to each other.  Both had found themselves forced into baths the previous night, Clarke objected swearing she was clean and bathing was bad for her delicate skin.  Abby informed her that not bathing was bad for everyone’s sense of smell and nobody wanted to be friends with the smelly kid.  Probably not even Lexa, this may have been a mistake because Calamity Clarke then ended up with a bruised knee from slipping in the tub.  She might have gotten a concussion and knot on her head if Abby hadn’t been close enough to catch her.  The whole time Clarke wailed that Lexa loved her and her smell!

That morning when Clarke flung herself out of the room and into Lexa, the brunette said very matter of factly, “I love you and your smell.”

“I told you!”  Clarke called back into the room.

At breakfast, Lexa had Mickey Waffles, again.  She also had bacon, again.  Clarke wanted a cinnamon roll as big as her head.  After a long negotiation, Abby talked her down to French toast and bacon with an option for an ice cream sundae to share with Lexa at a later time.  Abby had begun to wonder if maybe Clarke was destined for law instead of medicine or engineering.  She pitied anyone that had to negotiate with an adult Clarke who didn’t have to worry about getting grounded or having sweets withheld.

An hour later, hopped up on sugar Clarke and Lexa stormed the gates of Disney/MGM Studios and made haste for Star Tours someone might have shouted, “For the Rebellion!  Down with the Empire!”  Anya might have put an excitable blonde with a sugar rush up to it.  When her father looked at her with a raised eyebrow she shrugged and tried to look as perplexed as the adults.

They didn’t see much on the way to Star Tours, Clarke had a park map and a mission.

On the ride the girls sat side by side, holding hands, and reacting excitedly to everything that happened to the starspeeder.

Once the Death Star was safely destroyed, Clarke was willing to let someone else be in charge.  Which turned out to be Jake, who led them directly to the Muppet Theater.  

They all had to stop and take pictures in front of the Miss Piggy fountain.  Lexa mimicked Piggy’s Lady Liberty pose while Clarke made a funny face and bunny ears with her fingers behind Lexa’s head (years later, Lexa would say this was her favorite picture of them).

During the pre-show Jake lifted Lexa up onto his shoulders so she could see the overhead monitors better.  Clarke, not to be outdone, tugged at Gus until he lifted her onto his shoulders.  Lexa looked away from giggling at the pre-show monitors to giggle at Clarke.  Clarke couldn’t help but giggle with her when Rizzo pretended to be Mickey Mouse.

Once seated, Abby surreptitiously managed to sneak a few photos of Lexa and Jake with 3D glasses on poking at each others faces.  True to his word he sat next to Lexa and they giggled and guffawed the whole time. Lexa pointed excitedly at Statler and Waldorf whenever they spoke and moved and practically shrieked when they got sprayed by Fozzie's squirting flower.  Clarke only half watched the movie, being too distracted by Lexa’s giggles.  Even stoic Anya had a good time, Clarke heard her laugh twice.  Somehow in the rush to get seated and get glasses on, Clarke ended up seated between Anya and Gus, with Lexa on the other side of Anya.

From the Muppet theater they went to the stunt show and then on the backlot tour.  As the tram pulled back to the loading area Lexa announced, “Clarke’s hungry.”

“Is that so, little Muppet?” Jake said.

“Yep,” Lexa nodded for extra emphasis.  Clarke nodded along with her.

“How do you know?”  Indra asked out of curiosity.

Lexa just shrugged.

“I was promised an ice cream sundae,” Clarke announced remembering the morning.

The girls held hands all through lunch and shared a brownie sundae at the end.  Afterwards they caught another stunt show before going on the Great Movie Ride.  The queue took forever and the girls had begun to plan out the next day.  “I want to go back on Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Splash Mountain,” Clarke told Lexa.

“I want to pull the sword from the stone, too,” Lexa said.

“Maybe we can do it together.”  They chattered on like that for awhile.

The adults were carrying on another conversation with Anya listening quietly.  “I don’t know what we’re going to do on Friday when it’s time for us to leave,” Abby was saying.  "They’ve gotten so attached I’m afraid Clarke will cry all the way home."

“I know Lexa will.  Big, fat, silent, Lexa tears,” Anya interjected.  The adults all looked at her.  “What?  She does, it’s terrible.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we all get along, huh?”  Gus put an arm around his oldest daughter.

“They can email and AIM everyday,” Indra offered.  

“Next spring we can take Clarke to DC, she’ll love the Smithsonians,” Jake suggested.

“I’ve always wanted to visit New Orleans,” Gus said.  “The levees are quite a feat of human engineering.”

Abby, Indra, and Gus continued to discuss vacation and communication opportunities, but Anya was done with the talk.  “New Orleans, a city that’s only fun for levee junkies and drunks,” she grumped.

“Not so, Anya,” Jake told her.  “There is music, not all of it jazz.  Beautiful parks and museums, and a theme park.  Jazzland isn’t as cool at Disney World, but they have a few good coasters.  It’s like Memphis, but with better food.”

“Memphis has the blues,” Anya rolled her eyes.  “I like the blues.  Barbecue beats crawfish, any day.  Also, Lexa wasn’t born in New Orleans, so Memphis is loads better.”

Jake clutches his chest and winces like he’s been shot.  “I’ll send you some good jazz and you’ll see.  Once you’ve had a bowl of etouffee you’ll change your mind about crawfish.  I’ll have to give you that Memphis being the birthplace of the Great Lexa giving it a slight edge.  But Calamity Clarke was born in New Orleans, Metairie, to be specific.”

“You don’t sound like someone from New Orleans,” Anya pointed out.

“I’m not, originally, I’m from San Diego.  I met Abby at CalTech.  She’s originally from San Francisco.”

“How did you end up in New Orleans?”

“You know that to be a doctor you have to get an undergrad degree, then get a doctorate from a medical school, right?”

“Obviously,” Anya’s teenager was showing.

“After medical school, you usually have to do a year’s internship at a hospital, and then do three to five years of residency before you are considered a full fledged doctor,” Jake explained.  “That gets really expensive.”

“Uh, huh,” Anya agreed.

“Tulane offered Abby a full-ride for medical school.  So we got married and moved to New Orleans.  She finished school, interned, and did her residency and now she practically runs the neurology department.”

“So, if I wanted to go to medical school, could Mrs. Griffin pull some strings for me?”

“If you’ve got the grades and can do the work, I’d be happy to,” Abby said finally keening onto the conversation Jake was having with the teen.

“Yeah?”  

“I always worry when Anya gets that look in her eye,” Gus grinned.  “She’s either going to save the world or conquer it.”

“I’m going to be a doctor, Dad.”

“Doctor Anya Woods, I like it,” Gus boomed.

“It’s our turn to go, c’mon,” Clarke called to everyone from the front of the queue.  They loaded up into the vehicle and embarked upon the ride.  If it hadn’t been so loud Clarke might have fallen asleep curled around Lexa again.  

****

\------

****

As they exited the ride Anya said, “Those munchkins don’t get any less creepy when they’re animatronic.”

Jake laughed.

****

\-----

****

Sometime later the Griffin’s and Woods’ are queued up for Tower of Terror.  Neither girl had been scared on Rock n Roller Coaster, but Clarke was starting to get nervous in the queue.  Lexa instinctively wrapped an arm around Clarke.  “I’ll be with you.”

“I wish you could always be with me, my at home friends aren’t as good as you.”

“Anya and my cousin, Lincoln, are my closest friends,” Lexa sighed.  “People scare me.  I’m afraid they’ll find out I’m different.”

“I think you’re perfect,” Clarke told her and kissed her cheek.  

The queue moved faster than the girls expected and before long they were seated on the elevator.  Clarke clutched Lexa’s hand tightly and whispered, “I’m really scared, Lex”

“You’re safe.  I’ll protect you,” Lexa said with a serious nod.

The ride started up and Clarke closed her eyes.  “I’ve got you, Clarke, just hold on to me.”

Lexa continued to whisper to Clarke as the elevator climbed to the top.  When the bottom dropped out, Lexa shrieked with glee and Clarke in terror.  When it stopped and bounced back up, Lexa laughed.  Clarke opened her eyes to see Lexa laughing and enjoying the ride. Clarke’s fear slipped away while Lexa held her hand and laughed.  By the last drop Clarke was laughing, too.

After Tower of Terror they went to dinner and waited for Fantasmic! to start.  Clarke looked at Lexa in a way that made her seven year old stomach fill with butterflies.  “Lex,” Clarke said.  Lexa met Clarke’s big blue eyes.  “You make me happy.”  

Lexa smiled shyly, “you make me happy, too, Clarke.”

“Welcome to Fantasmic,” the words came from a disembodied prerecorded voice.  Clarke did a little dance in her seat and reached for Lexa’s hand.

Lexa snuggled into Clarke’s side, Clarke tossed an arm around Lexa’s shoulder and Lexa snaked an arm around Clarke’s waist.  “I love you, Lexa.”

“I love you, too, Clarke.”

Gus and Jake exchanged a look over the girls heads, it was a very special look that said ‘in a few years we’re going to be delivering these girls to the end of the same aisle to the tune of a very familiar march.’

Jake elbowed his wife, and indicated the girls wrapped around each other and watching the show get underway.

“Our grandchildren are going to be something else,” she told her husband.

The girls watched Fantasmic! in awe.  On the bus back to the hotel, Clarke fell asleep.  Jake leaned into Lexa and whispered, “Thank you for being my Muppets buddy.”  

Lexa grinned at him.  “Gonzo is my favorite,” she told him.

“I like Fozzie best,” Jake confided.  “But I tell people Rowlf is my favorite.  Now you know my Muppet secret.”

Lexa grinned at him.

****

\------

****

**_March 22, 2001_ **

****

That morning, the third in a row that the two girls rushed to get to each other, was a little more subdued that the previous two.  Clarke still flung herself out the door into Lexa’s waiting arms, but instead of huge smiles, there were soft sniffles.

“I can not deal with weepy Lexa today,” Anya growled.  The adults all glared at her.  “Don’t give me that look.  I have to ride beside her all the way back to DC with those fat silent tears rolling down her cheeks tomorrow.”

Clarke sniffed and glared at Anya.

“You don’t scare me, blondie.”

****

\-----

****

Later in the morning, Clarke and Lexa climbed off the the Carousel and headed for the Sword in the Stone.  They tugged at it individually to no avail.  After some very serious discussion, they agreed to try it together.  Both girls climbed up and grabbed a side of the hilt and tugged.  After half an hour of useless tugging and discussion, imagine their surprise when as soon as they grasped and tugged together the sword started to give and pull up out of the stone.  Lexa looked at Clarke with wide surprised eyes and a huge smile.  

“We’ll be Queens together!”  Clarke shouted gleefully.

“Don’t we need to be married to rule together?”  Lexa asked, contemplating.

“Yeah,” Clarke climbed off of the stone and imitated the people she saw on television by dropping to her knees and looking up at Lexa.  Lexa looked down at her blonde friend curiously.

“Lexa Woods, will you marry me and be my Queen?”  She held up a hand for Lexa’s.

“Clarke, I would love to be your Queen, but I’m seven.”

“I didn’t say we had to get married today.  I can wait until after high school.”

The girls, off in their own little world as they usually were when they were together, didn’t notice Abby and Indra snapping lots of pictures.

“Okay, Clarke, I’ll marry you after high school and be your Queen.”

“Should we seal it with a kiss?”  Clarke asked as Lexa helped her up.

Lexa gave Clarke a quick peck on the lips and blushed so hard that she looked like a strawberry in the photos.

****

\-----

****

For their last day, Abby had managed to swing a lunch reservation at Cinderella’s Castle.  Where Clarke proudly told every Princess that came to their table that she was engaged to Lexa.  Lexa smiled and blushed every time and managed to shyly say thank you every time a Princess congratulated her.

“You think they’ll want to come back here to get married?”  Gus grinned.

****

\------

****

The girls refused to get on It’s a Small World again, once was enough for a lifetime.  Anya’s announcement that the dolls were creepy was more than enough encouragement for Clarke and Lexa to not ever want to ride it again.  The got on Peter Pan’s Flight and they held on to each other more tightly than they had the first time.  They headed over to Liberty Square and back to the Haunted Mansion.  Then to Pirates of the Caribbean.  A stop to get a Dole Whip was required before going on the Jungle Cruise.

They crossed over to Tomorrowland where Clarke sang along with “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” while Lexa smiled at her.

****

\-----

****

The day came to an end.  The last of the fireworks faded away leaving only clouds of smoke.  They did not fall asleep on the bus ride back to the resort.  They sat shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip, hands clasped tightly together.  Clarke’s head rested on Lexa’s shoulder and Lexa’s head rested on top of Clarke’s.  Clarke could feel Lexa’s silent tears dampening her hair.  Anya’s heart broke for Lexa.  She sat behind them on the bus, the silence and sadness were like having a dementor on the bus.

Arriving at their stop the Griffin’s and the Woods’ disembarked from the bus as a group for the last time.  The air was so thick with it that even Indra fought tears.  The girls walked with Lexa’s arm around Clarke’s shoulders and Clarke’s arm around Lexa’s waist.  The pair of them would walk like this enough in the future that Gus would dub it ‘the portable cuddle’.  

The closer they got to the building, the slower they walked.  Gus, Jake, Indra, and Abby discussed something so quietly that even Anya’s keen ears couldn’t pick it up.  

They stopped in front of the Griffin’s room, except for Indra who moved ahead to enter the Woods’ room.  Clarke and Lexa just clung to each other.  No one said anything.  Anya stood stoically behind her father and pretended that she was completely unaffected by her baby sister’s first broken heart.  Anya hadn’t even had her first broken heart, yet.

After a few moments of this oppressive silence, Indra reappeared with a small bag.  Abby used her keycard to open their room and step inside.  Indra knelt in front of the girls and handed the bag to Lexa who looked at it curiously.  “It’s a few overnight things,” Indra explained.  “We have discussed it and agreed that since it’s your last night together, you can spend the night with Clarke.”

Lexa smiled for the first time since the Carousel of Progress.  

“I expect you to be a model guest, Monkey,”  Gus warned.

“I will, Poppa Bear.”

“Goodnight, Monkey,” Gus bent down and kissed her head.

“Goodnight, Daddy,” Lexa smiled.  Good nights were exchanged all around before the families split off into their own rooms with Lexa entering the Griffin’s room still attached to Clarke.

“You know the drill, Bug,” Jake said.  “Jammies on, teeth brushed, grubby little face washed.”

“DAD!”

“Clarke!”

“MOM!”

“You’re face is kind of grubby,Clarke,” Abby said while going around the room and pre-packing anything that they wouldn’t need in the morning.

“I like your face,” Lexa said shyly.  The girls went through Clarke’s bedtime routine.  It wasn’t much different than Lexa’s.  They climbed into Clarke’s hotel bed and cuddled up.  They lay facing each other, with arms wrapped around each other.  Clarke tucked her head under Lexa’s chin.  Lexa kissed the top of Clarke’s head occasionally until they started drifting off.  “I like your face too, Lexa.”

****

\-----

****

**March 23, 2001**

****

Morning came and Clarke cried.  Lexa cried, big, fat, silent, heartbreaking tears.  This was before they even released each other to climb out of bed.  

The Griffin’s plus Lexa got up, got dressed, and finished packing.

Lexa left Clarke’s side long enough to take her overnight bag over for Gus and Indra to pack.  The Griffin’s helped the Woods’ load up their car.  Clarke and Lexa cried some more.  

When the time finally came for the Woods’ to get on the road and the Griffin’s to catch the shuttle to the airport Clarke said, “I’ll miss you, Lexa.”

“I already miss you, Clarke.  I will call you as soon as we get home, Dad already said I could.”  

Clarke kissed Lexa on the lips, softly.  It was barely a peck, but Lexa’s tiny ears turned red.

Lexa climbed into the backseat and buckled her seatbelt.  She tried not to cry as Gus started the car and pulled out of the parking spot.  She started crying as soon as she couldn’t see Clarke anymore.  Big, fat, silent tears.  She cried until she fell asleep, exhausted a few miles north of Gainesville.

****

\-----

****

Clarke cried all the way to the airport.  The shuttle driver thought she was just sad to be leaving the parks.  Clarke cried her way across the airport, and cried all the way to their gate, and all the way to her seat.  Clarke’s tears weren’t as silent as Lexa’s, sometimes she hiccupped, she sniffled pretty often, from time to time her breaths were shaky.  The plane had been in the air for fifteen minutes when emotional exhaustion struck Clarke and she fell asleep.  She awoke an hour and a half later as the plane approached Moisant Field.

“We’re almost home, sweetheart,”Abby said gently.

By the time the Griffin’s pulled into their garage, the Woods’ were passing Savannah, Georgia.  Lexa stared out of the window and decided she hated Savannah.

Clarke unpacked and moped.  She put _The Sword in the Stone_ in the DVD player and laid on the couch like a lump, crying occasionally.  She fell asleep after awhile, only waking because Abby called her to dinner.  After dinner she went back to the living room and put _Who Framed Roger Rabbit?_ in the DVD player.  She laid back down on the sofa and waited for the phone to ring.  At 9:32 pm, it did.

Clarke flew off of the sofa and picked up the cordless phone on the end table.  “Hello.”

Clarke held her breath.

“Hello, Clarke,” Lexa’s voice traveled to her from a thousand miles away.  

“Lexa!”

“We just got home.  Dad’s tired and I miss you.”  There is a pause where Clarke can hear other voices.  “I have to go to bed, but he says I can call you back tomorrow after dinner.”

“I miss you, too.”

“Goodnight, Clarke.”

“Goodnight, Lexa.”  Clarke listened for the line to click off before pushing the End Call button.

****

\------

****

**_March 24, 2001_ **

****

Clarke hung up the phone in the living room and dashed to her father’s office.  She sat down at his desk and booted up his computer.

The Windows fanfare played and Clarke rolled her eyes.  Computers should be faster than this.  His desktop appeared and Clarke paused at the new background image.  It was the Griffin’s and the Woods’ with Cinderella’s Castle in the background.  Clarke and Lexa had their arms around each other, Clarke was making a silly face and Lexa was laughing at her.  

Clarke double clicked the little running man icon and waited for it to connect.  Her Dad showed her how to do all of this earlier in the day.  When the Window came up the program asked her to approve a new Buddy, **MonkeyLex**.  Clarke clicked the affirmative and opened a new chat window with MonkeyLex.

****

**PrincessClarke:** Lexa? **  
** **MonkeyLex:** Hello Clarke. **  
** **PrincessClarke:**    this is weird  
**MonkeyLex:**   Kinda

It just wasn’t the same.  Clarke liked Lexa’s soft voice, she liked the way Lexa said her name.  She felt the tears start to build in her eyes again.

Lexa, a thousand miles away felt the pause and knew that this time Clarke needed her to make it okay.  Instead of talking about missing each other, instead of talking about the previous week, they needed to talk about something else.

****

**MonkeyLex:**   Dad made me clean my room today.  He said it looked like a tornado hit a trailer park.  Anya had to help Indra in the garden and she complained about getting all dirty, then dad squirted her with the hose.  
**PrincessClarke:**   While she was still in the dirt?  
**MonkeyLex:**   Yeah, then he called her Muddy Buddy.  She was mad.  I watched from my window and laughed.  She said I was gonna get it for laughing.  I’m starting to get worried.  It’s been a long time and she usually gets me sooner.  
**PrincessClarke:**   LOL  
**MonkeyLex:**   She’s looking at me.  
**MonkeyLex:**   She came in the living room and now she’s giving me that scary smile.  
**PrincessClarke:**    The one that made that little boy cry in line for Dumbo?  
**MonkeyLex:**   Yes.  She’s still doing it.  
**PrincessClarke:**   Run  
**MonkeyLex:**    I’m afraid to move.  
**PrincessClarke:**   I don't think her vision is based on movement  
**MonkeyLex:**   She won’t touch me at the computer because Dad will be really mad if we break something.  If I stay here I’m safe.  
**PrincessClarke:**   Are you going to sleep at the computer?  
**MonkeyLex:**   If I have to, we have a soft chair.  
**MonkeyLex:**   She’s humming.  
**PrincessClarke:**   What?  
**MonkeyLex:**   She’s humming it’s a small world, Clarke.  
**PrincessClarke:**   That can’t mean anything good

Lexa didn’t reply for a little while.  Clarke started to worry a little.

 **PrincessClarke:**   Lex?  
**PrincessClarke:**   Did Anya kill you?  
**PrincessClarke:**   Can I sing great big beautiful tomorrow at your funeral?

Jake stepped into his office, “It’s getting close to bedtime, Bug.”

“I think Anya killed Lexa, I can’t go to bed until I know she’s okay.”

“You’ve got school in the morning.  Won’t it be nice to see your friends again?"

“My friends aren’t as good as Lexa, Dad,” Clarke sighed.  

“I know, Bug.  But Lexa lives in Washington D.C. and we live here,” he said bending down to kiss her head.  “Your friends here are just going to have to do.”

Clarke grunted at him and sulked.  A moment later the message window chimed.

 **MonkeyLex:**   I lived and now we’re both grounded.  

Jake looked at the happy look on his little girls face while she hunted and pecked out the words, “Five more minutes, Bug.  Tell Lex I said to stay out of the cannon.”

 **PrincessClarke:**    What happened?  
**PrincessClarke:**   Dad says to tell you to stay out of the cannon I don’t know what that means  
**MonkeyLex:**   My Dad called me to the dining room and Anya jumped me on the way and gave me a wedgie so hard it ripped the band of my favorite Spider-Man underwear.  Dad walked in to see me hitting her in the head to let me go.  I might have also told her to get the fuck off which is why I’m grounded too.  
**PrincessClarke:**   Ouch  
**MonkeyLex:**   Gonzo the Great likes to get shot out of a cannon  
**MonkeyLex:**   Yeah, I think I’m going to have a bruise.  I have to sign off now Dad said I could come back and say goodnight.  I think he’s still going to let me talk to you on here tomorrow after dinner if my school work is all done.  
**PrincessClarke:**   Goodnight Lexa  
**MonkeyLex:**   Goodnight Clarke.

 

 


	3. June 2001:  Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake is awesome, Clarke is a calamity.

**_June 21, 2001_ **

****

Clarke had been moping on the couch since the school year ended.  Wells had shown up at the door every day for the last three weeks asking if Clarke wanted to play with the other neighborhood kids.  She didn’t.  Jake tried to convince her that going outside to play was something that normal kids do.  Clarke told him she was fine being not normal.  There were also some less than flattering comments that indicated that the neighborhood kids were less than savory.  Jake tried not to think about it.

Every year, Jake and Abby adjusted their schedules during the summer months so that one of them was always home with Clarke.  Jake worked from home two days a week and Abby worked the evening and overnight shifts at the hospital.  She always did her long 36 hour shift on the days Jake worked from home.  

It was a typical sweltering Thursday in late June when Jake pushed his lump of a daughter off of the sofa.  “Get up, Clarke.”

“DAD!”  Clarke exclaimed from the floor, where she was continuing to be a lump.

“I need you to go shopping with me,” Jake nudged at her with a toe.

“We just bought groceries,” she sulked.

“I’m not shopping for groceries.”

“I don’t need any clothes.  It’s too hot for clothes.”

“Clarke, we’ve talked about the no pants thing.”

“Pants are of the devil, Dad.”

“We’re not shopping for clothes, Bug.  I’m gonna need you to put on pants, though.”

“No pants!”

Jake sighed.

Clarke continued to lay in the floor, lethargic.  It was the least exciting father/daughter stand-off to ever occur.

Jake caved.  “We need to get some camping supplies.”

Clarke groaned.

Jake sighed again and nudged Clarke with his foot . . . again.  “Do you have to be so dramatic?”

“Yes.”

Jake nodded and moved around to the back of the sofa.  He was either going to have to tell her or get on to her and since Jake was a big softy he just wanted to make sure he was clear of Calamity Clarke’s path before telling her.  “We’ve rented a cabin in Tennessee with the Woods’.  We’re leaving in the morning.”

Clarke sat up and looked at her father with suspicion.  “Really?”

“Yes, Bug, really.  Now please put on pan--”

Jake didn’t get to finish his sentence because Clarke was wrapped around his head.  More specifically she had jumped up on the couch and used it as a trampoline to leap up and hug her father, around his head, because the springs in the sofa were surprisingly good. “You are the best Dad in the world!”

Clarke jumped down and ran for the hall, she bounced off of the door frame and launched herself up the stairs with an outrageous clatter, and promptly smacked into her bedroom door trying to get it open.  Jake was just relieved that nothing broke.

He found his wallet and keys in the bowl on the hall table.  The noise of Clarke opening and closing drawers and her closet and then falling down at least once (It could have been up to three times, Clarke wasn’t a fan of slowing down to put on or take off clothes, or to do much of anything really.  Clarke lived life at either Ludicrous Speed or lethargic koala, there wasn’t much in between.), rattled the whole house.  He heard her smack into the doorframe of her bathroom, the “OW!” carried down the stairs.

“Clarke, I’d rather not have to make a trip to the emergency room today,” her father called up to her.

“I’m fine!”  A crash. “Nothing important broke!”  Followed by the sound of a herd of stampeding wildebeests travelling the second floor hall and down the stairs.  Clarke jumped the last three steps and landed in the hall with a flourish.  She was fully dressed with her hair brushed.

“I’ll give it a 7 and a half,” Jake smiled.  “What was the crash?”

“When it’s basketball versus Legos, bet on the basketball.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.  Shoes?”

Clarke located a pair of flip flops and followed her father to the garage.  “Can we make s’mores?”

“Yeah, like you need that much sugar out in the wild.”

“You said there was a cabin!”

Jake facepalmed.  “There is a cabin, Bug.  It’s four bedrooms in the mountains on a lake.  It’s pretty far out of the way so we need to make sure we take everything we’ll need for a week so we don’t have to keep running into town because Princess Clarke needs detangler.”

“That happened once, Dad,” Clarke groused climbing into the passenger seat of her father’s 4Runner and getting buckled in.  ”At Six Flags, and Mom made you go, I didn’t care.”

“I know, Bug,” Jake pushed the garage door remote button and backed out.

A few minutes into the drive Clarke asked, “Are we going to have electricity?”

“We will, I know what a menace you are with a flashlight.  Lexa doesn’t deserve that.”

“Bwah, ha ha, ha!”  Clarke laughed her best evil laugh.

They arrived at the discount big box retailer and made a beeline for the Sporting Goods department.  Jake filled the cart with fishing poles (two smaller ones for Clarke and Lexa), hooks, and extra line.  He picked up a camp set of scaling and fillet knives (always an optimist that Jake), Clarke lost interest after the bug repellent.  She had spotted the toy department nearby and tried to drop little hints while Jake shopped for essentials.

“We should take some games, Dad.”

“That’s a good idea, Bug.”  Jake dropped a pair of kid sized life vests into the cart and pushed on to camp cooking supplies.

“I could go look and pick something out.”

“I think you can wait until we both go over there together.”

Clarke sighed.

Jake put a few things in the cart and pushed on.  Clarke looked longingly at the toy department.  Jake handed her a lantern.  “Look, Clarke, portable light.”  That was enough to distract the blonde long enough to finish getting the other supplies he needed in Sporting Goods.  

He headed down the main aisle away from toys.  “Dad, games are back the other way.”

“We’ll go look at the toys when we’ve finished getting the things we have to get, okay?  You know how irritated your Mom gets when we get distracted in the toys and forget the things we were supposed to get."

“What else do we need?”

“Extra pillows and blankets, towels, some hiking boots for my accident prone child.”

“Hey!”

“Is what horses eat.”

“Dad!”

“I also need to run to hardware and pick up a couple of things.  Do you think you can be patient that long?”

“Can we get a sno ball on the way home?”

“If you can be patient and agreeable until we head home we will stop and see if they still have that Tiger’s Blood you like.”

“Okay!”

Clarke wandered along side her father as he collected the things on his list.  Finally he turned them into the toy department.  Clarke slipped into kid nirvana.  They stopped and examined the Nerf guns when Clarke had an epiphany, “Dad!  We need water guns.”

“You’re a genius, Clarke!”  They steered around to the seasonal toy aisle and picked out several large and impressive water guns.  Clarke giggled at the thought of water wars with Lexa on her team.

Next they moved to the board games and picked Clue, Life, and Uno.  The great Monopoly War of Christmas 2000 was enough reason to treat it’s spot on the shelf as empty.  It started when Jake outbid Clarke for Park Place and she began pelting him with houses and hotels.  Things escalated until Clarke flipped the bank and fake bills fluttered all around the dining room.  Clarke had to spend awhile in time out after cleaning up the mess.  Clarke was not known for being a gracious loser.

An endcap on the way to the registers was covered with the first four books of what would become one of the most popular book series of all time.  Clarke paused and examined the covers.  She picked one up, “Wells read these, he keeps trying to get me to.”

Jake grabbed one of each and after a quick once over, the thickest, _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_ was only available in hardback, and placed them in the cart.  “A little summer reading won’t kill you, Clarke.”

Clarke wrinkled her nose at her father, “You don’t know that.”

****

\-----

****

Jake and Clarke sat at a beat up picnic table next to the Sno Ball stand they stopped at.  Clarke was halfway through a medium Tiger’s Blood (Jake refused to get her a large, Clarke refused to accept a small, she had been good and her father bought her books) when Clarke asked her father something that had been weighing on her mind for a few hours.  “Dad, what if Lexa doesn’t like me anymore?”

“Clarke you talk to her on the internet for an hour every night.  Once a week you talk to each other on the phone.  You even planned out a schedule so that you know whose turn it is to call and what time you’ll both be home.  There is a chart with time zones,” Jake said incredulously.  “I’m one hundred percent sure she still likes you.”

Clarke smiled, her lips and tongue dyed red by the Tiger’s Blood.  “She’s really pretty, Dad.”

“You think so?”

Clarke nodded.  “Is that okay?”

“Of course it’s okay, sweetheart.”

“I know I’m only eight, but I really like her.  Like, like-like her.”

“I know you do, Clarke.”

“And that’s okay?”

“Yes.  I’d rather you were a little older before you get into a serious relationship, but you got engaged without talking to me, so I just have to support you.”

“Dad, I’m serious.”

“So am I, Clarke.  You are my little girl and I love you with all my heart.  It’s okay with me if you love Lexa.  It’s okay with me if you love Wells.”

“Wells likes me, but I don’t like him like that.  Nathan Miller is cute, but I think he likes Monty Green.”

“Are all second grade classrooms romantic hot spots?”

Clarke shrugs.  “I don’t want to hang around with Wells anymore because he said I can’t be engaged to Lexa.  He said girls can’t marry girls.”

“Well, sweetheart, right now you can’t be legally married, but that’s mostly because you’re eight.  It’s also true that right now you could only marry Lexa in the Netherlands.  But I think by the time you’re old enough to marry her, there will be a few more places.”

“Where are the Netherlands?”

“Western Europe, between the UK and Germany.”

Clarke hummed an acknowledgment and stared into her empty Tiger’s Blood cup.  “Wells said I’m not supposed to like Lexa like I like Lexa.”

“Wells is wrong,” Jake said it firmly, with an edge.  He wasn’t ready for Clarke to be thinking about boys or girls, or boys and girls, but he wasn’t about to let the minister’s son tell Clarke it wasn’t okay to love someone.

Clarke looked up at him having heard the note of anger in his voice.  She had tears starting to form.

Jake wrapped his little girl in a tight hug.  “Oh, sweetheart, I’m not upset with you.  You are the best thing I ever did and you are perfect to me.  I don’t care who you love as long as they love you back and treat you right.”  He loosened his grip a little to look her in the eye.  “Do you believe me?”

Clarke nodded with red rimmed eyes.

“If it helps, I’d much rather you fall in love with and marry someone as sweet and gentle as Lexa over just about any boy in the world.  I love you, Clarke, and I just want you to be happy.”

Clarke buried her face in her father’s chest until her crying tapered off.  Then she wiped her tears and snot onto his shirt and giggled.

“Aw, Clarke!”

“I love you, Dad.”

“You snotted all over my favorite shirt.”  Clarke giggled.  “I bought you Tiger’s Blood and you snotted on me.”

“We have to go home and pack so I can see my financee tomorrow.”

“Fiancée,” Jake corrected standing up and tossing their empty sno ball cups in the trash.

“Fiancée,” Clarke repeated with a nod.

****

\------

****

**PrincessClarke:**  Did you know?!

 **MonkeyLex:**  Dad just told me!!!

 **MonkeyLex:**  Anya is complaining because she says we’re leaving at the butt-crack of dawn.

 **PrincessClarke:** I’m so excited I won’t be able to sleep!  That might be the Tiger’s Blood

 **MonkeyLex:**  Me too!  I miss you so much!  

 **MonkeyLex:** What’s Tiger’s Blood?  It sounds gross.

 **PrincessClarke:**  It’s a sno ball flavor.  It tastes kind of like cherry flavor, but better.  Not gross.  Awesome!

 **PrincessClarke:**  You miss me?

 **MonkeyLex:**  All the time.

 **PrincessClarke:**  I miss you, too

 **MonkeyLex:**  I get to see you TOMORROW!

****

\------

****

**_June 22, 2001_ **

It was still dark when Jake picked up a sleepy, haphazardly dressed Clarke and carried her down to the garage.  He was getting her buckled in when she grinned and said, “We’re going to my Lexa, now!”

Abby was loading her purse and a medium sized travel tote into the front passenger floorboard.  She had finished her shift at the hospital and rushed home to shower and change.

Jake chuckled at his daughter.  “You’ve got it bad, Bug.”

Clarke hummed an affirmative and fell asleep.

“So, my eight year old came out yesterday,” Abby said.  “Not that it was unexpected, I hate being the last to know, though.”

“I’m sure she’ll tell you when she thinks about it.”  He got in the driver’s seat and started the SUV.

“You like being her confidante,” Abby teased and Jake got on the road.

“I really do.  You have no idea how relieved I was that she doesn’t like the Jaha boy.  Could you imagine having to deal with Thelonius all the time, always going on and on about his promised land.  Torture.”  Jake remembered what Clarke had said about Wells.  “Clarke doesn’t have to spend time around them anymore.  Wells told her it wasn’t okay to like Lexa.”

“Sounds like Thelonius’ influence.”

****

\------

****

Anya plopped into the backseat of her Dad’s Cherokee and shot her little sister a dirty look.  “I love you, but this is ridiculous.”

Lexa was already buckled in with a stack of books beside her and a book light over her shoulder.  She had _A Wrinkle in Time_ open and was already a few chapters into the story.  She blinked at her sister and went back to her book.  “If we ever get a dog, I’m calling him Calvin.”

Anya rolled her eyes and got comfortable.

“Calvin sounds like an excellent name for a dog,” Indra said getting settled.

“It’s a moot discussion,” Gus said starting the engine.  “Anya is allergic to pet dander.”

Anya looked seriously at her younger sister, “before you even start, you can not read minds.”

Lexa furrowed her brow at Anya without looking away from her book.

****

\------

****

Nine hours and forty-five minutes later the Woods’ arrived at the cabin.  It was a very nice two story cabin with a wrap around porch complete with two porch swings facing the lake, and a porch on the second story.  It was clean and well maintained.  

The Woods’ had stopped in town to do the grocery shopping as they would arrive a couple of hours ahead of the Griffin’s.  Lexa and Anya carried in groceries while Gus unloaded their bags and assigned rooms.  Anya was ecstatic to get her very own king sized bed.  Gus and Indra took the downstairs suite and assigned the upstairs suite to the adult Griffins.  Clarke and Lexa would share the other upstairs room, also with a king bed.  After helping Indra with the groceries, Lexa carried her stuff up to her room.  Gus had already sat her suitcase on the bed.    

Lexa placed her books on the end table on the side of the bed closest to the door.  She dropped her backpack with a few personal items on the floor next to it.  That done, Lexa had nothing to do but wait.  She waited in the room for a bit.  Then she waited on the upstairs porch for a bit.  The view was nice, but the mosquitoes were not.  She went downstairs to wait in the kitchen, but Anya was there being surly because she was hungry and Indra wouldn’t let her graze in the fridge.    
  
“I don’t want an apple, Indra,” Anya was grumbling.  “I need protein, I’m an athlete.”  Since spring break, Anya had turned 14 and secured her place on the girl's junior varsity basketball team for the next year.

“Just because we bought ham doesn’t mean you have to eat it right away.  It’s cured, it keeps.”  
  
Lexa spotted the OFF on the counter and carried it out to the porch where she found Gus on a porch swing with a citronella candle burning nearby.  

Lexa positioned herself in front of the swing and waited for Gus to swing forward before hopping on.  “I like it here.”

“Me too, Monkey.”

Lexa lifted his arm and slid under it.  Daddy cuddles were second only to Clarke cuddles.  “Thank you for bringing me here, Poppa Bear.”

“Anything for you, Monkey.”

They sat in silence for a long while, just taking in the quiet as the sun crept lower in the sky.  Lexa was just getting worried enough to ask when she heard a car approaching.  She waited, cautiously for the vehicle to come into view.  She ran to the edge of the porch and saw the window roll down and Clarke’s blond head appear in it.  
  
“LEXA!”  Clarke shouted.

“CLARKE!”  Lexa jumped off the porch and ran to where Jake was parking the 4Runner.

The motor wasn’t even off yet when Clarke pushed open the door and flung herself at Lexa.  The pair landed in a heap on the grass, giggling.

Jake turned off the motor and climbed out of the driver’s side.  “Clarke, get off of Lexa and help carry stuff in.”

Clarke nuzzled into Lexa and planted a kiss on her cheek before climbing off of her favorite person in the world.  She held out a hand to Lexa to help her up and didn’t let go until Jake handed her a backpack full of her things and her suitcase.  Lexa waited to be handed something to carry in (it was a pair of pillows) and the pair walked into the cabin together.

“Our room is upstairs,” Lexa led the way.

In their room, Lexa tossed the pillows on the bed and helped Clarke unpack.  Lexa stacked Clarke’s summer reading on the end table next to hers, studying the covers of each one.  “Dad told me I could only get six, so I couldn’t get these for this trip.”

Clarke looked over at Lexa looking at the two stacks of books.  “My friend Wells likes them.  Dad says I can’t let my brain turn to mush over the summer.”  She finished putting her clothes away and climbed on the bed.  “So it’s just us in this room?”

“Yeah,” Lexa climbed up on the bed next to Clarke.  “If that’s okay.  There’s a pull out couch in the living room if you don’t want to share.”

“Lex,” Clarke snuggled close to the skinny brunette.  “I’m happy to share a room with you.  You’re my favorite person.”

Lexa wrapped her arms around Clarke, ”Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Clarke sighed, happy to be close to Lexa again.  Everything felt right.

Jake’s voice called up the stairs, “Clarke, get off of Lexa and come downstairs.”

“How did he even _know_?”  Clarke grumbled rolling off the bed followed by Lexa.

****

\------

****

Indra had prepared a simple dinner of spaghetti and meat sauce.  The cabin came stocked with pots and pans and dishes for eight.  Gus and Jake cleaned up while the ‘women-folk’ played Uno at the table.  Abby and Indra worked on a bottle of blush wine while the girls enjoyed Gus’ extra special root beer floats.  Extra special because they were mostly vanilla ice cream.

Clarke and Lexa lost, a lot.  They were a little too wrapped up in each other to really pay much attention to the cards.  Anya won the most hands and did a celebratory dance all the way around the cabin.

“That’s not unbecoming at all,” Gus said from the sink where he was drying the last plate.

“I can’t help it if I’m awesome, Dad.”

Lexa had her head on Clarke’s shoulder, eyes heavy.  Clarke leaned her head against Lexa’s and sighed happily.

“You’d think Clarke was happy or something,” Indra said.

“Around Meridian, Mississippi she woke up and demanded to know how long until we got to _her_ Lexa,” Abby told them.  “When we crossed the Tennessee state line she celebrated for a full ten minutes until her father told her there were still two hours to go.  She even made up a little song.  How did that go, Jake?”

“I’m gonna see my Leeeeexa, I’m gonna see my Leeeexa.  She’s my Leeeexa, not your Leeeexa,” Jake sang imitating Clarke, coming around the table to sit next to Abby.

“Dad, stop!”  Clarke was bright red and buried her face in Lexa’s mane of chestnut curls.

“Oh my God, that’s awesome!”  Anya laughed.  “Lexa kept asking how long until we got to _her_ Clarke.”

Lexa started to slink out of her seat, tiny ears bright red.  Clarke leaned after her until she nearly fell out of her seat.

“Where ya goin’, Lex?”  Anya teased.

“Bed,” Lexa mumbled and bolted up the stairs.

Clarke looked after Lexa, then gave Anya a dirty look.

“Still not afraid of you, blondie,” Anya drawled.

Clarke slipped out of her seat and bolted up the stairs after Lexa.

“They’re so cute all crushing on each other!”  Anya laughed.

“Anya, don’t tease your sister so much,” Gus admonished coming into the dining area with a beer in hand.

“Last week she did a ‘loser’ song and dance at me when she beat me at Mario Kart.  I don’t recall you telling her not to tease me between your laughs.”

“Well, no, because that was funny,” Gus chuckled at the memory.

“Lexa’s little red ears were pretty funny,” Jake offered.

****

\------

****

Clarke found Lexa face down on their bed.  “Lexa?”

Lexa rolled over and looked at Clarke.  She blushed harder than Clarke had ever seen her blush before.  Clarke climbed on the bed and sat on Lexa.  It seemed like the best way to handle this.  Clarke looked down at Lexa and forgot what she wanted to say.  Green eyes looked up at her almost pleading, Clarke got lost in them.  She couldn’t decide if they were the color of mint chocolate chip ice cream or green apple taffy.  She knew she was a big fan of all three though.

“Clarke?” Lexa breathed.  For Lexa’s part, she knew that Clarke’s eyes were the bluest blue she had ever seen.  They were Lexa’s favorite color.

“Huh?”  Clarke was pulled from her green reverie.  

“I can’t breathe.”

“Oh,” Clarke didn’t climb off Lexa, she just shifted around until she was straddling her waist.  “Better?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re _my_ Lexa.”

“You’re _my_ Clarke.”

Jake’s voice drifted through the closed door, “Clarke, get off Lexa and get ready for bed.  Lights out in ten minutes.”

“How _does_ he know?”  Lexa asked.

****

\------

****

Teeth brushed, grubby faces washed, parental goodnights exchanged and the girls climbed into their king sized bed and wrapped around each other in the middle.  You could have put two more people in the bed with them with as little space as they took up.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t like me anymore,” Clarke said softly into Lexa’s hair.

“I’ll always like you, Clarke.”  Clarke’s stomach flipped at the way Lexa always said her name.

 


	4. June 2001:  Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa has a mini-meltdown.

_**June 23, 2001** _

****

Clarke wakes with her arms around Lexa and her head tucked under Lexa’s chin, their legs tangled with each other and the bed clothes.  Lexa smelled nice, warm and safe, with a hint of citrus.  Clarke wanted to smell her all the time.  She stays very still as to not wake her curly-haired sleeping companion.  Clarke’s mind wandered, she thought about Lexa, she thought about Lexa’s wild hair, she thought about how soft Lexa’s hands were.  Long limbed, skinny, knobbly kneed, Lexa.  “My Lexa,” Clarke breathed.

“Your Lexa,” Lexa whispered.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Clarke said unmoving.

“You didn’t.  I smell bacon.”

“Bacon?”  Clarke lifted her head out from under Lexa’s chin and sniffed.  “Mmmm, bacon.”

“We have to get up to get the bacon.”

Clarke groaned.  Lexa was warm and surprisingly soft for someone so bony.  But bacon.   

Before Clarke could decide, because Lexa would never make the choice to not cuddle Clarke, Anya burst through the door and flung herself onto the bed and on the girls squishing them.

“Dad says it’s time to get up.”

“We can’t, you’re crushing us,” Clarke complained.

****

\------

****

After breakfast, Clarke and Lexa retreated back to their room.  They snuggle up on the bed and talk about all of the things that have gone on since spring break.  Lexa tells Clarke about her cousin Lincoln and how they play football every day in the backyard and that Lincoln said she should join his pee-wee league because she throws way better than his quarterback.  Clarke tells Lexa about Wells and what he said.  

“Wells is stupid,” Lexa intoned definitively.  “I’ll marry you if I want to marry you.”

“Yeah?”

Lexa never got a chance to answer.  

“Girls!”  Abby’s voice rang up the stairs.

“MOM!”  Clarke shouted back.

“We’re in the great outdoors, you are not spending all day hiding in the air conditioning.”

Clarke groaned and climbed off the bed to start getting dressed.  Lexa smiled at her.  “I’ll protect you from the great outdoors, Clarke.”

Clarke melted when Lexa said her name.  Every.  Single.  Time.  Melted.   _Eight year olds probably shouldn’t love someone this much_ , Clarke thought.

Lexa didn’t hesitate to strip down to her briefs and get dressed in front of Clarke.  “I thought Anya ruined your Spider-Man underwear?”

“She did, Dad bought me new ones.”  It then occurred to Lexa that she didn’t mind Clarke seeing her body.  She didn’t mind Clarke knowing about her vile appendage.  She just stood there, staring blankly into the dresser thinking about Clarke and how she didn’t feel like a freak when Clarke was there.

“Lex?”

“Huh?”

“Are you going to get dressed or just show off that you have superhero undies and I don’t?”

****

\------

****

An hour later, the Great Fishing Debacle of 2001 had wound down with minimal injury.  Lexa had taken a fishing pole to the face, Clarke had a band aid on her thumb from an incident with a hook.  There had been a brief protest over worm cruelty before Jake gave up and freed Clarke from fishing.  There were a lot of oddities in life when your kid was a gifted, ADHD girl.

The girls were walking through the woods along the bank of the lake just enjoying each others company when Lexa stopped by a tree she liked the look of and just went right up the trunk.  Clarke stood on the ground looking up at Lexa, her head tilted curiously.   _Adorably_ , Lexa thought.

“Now I know why your dad calls you Monkey.”

“Ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh, ahh.”  Lexa chuffed like a primate.  “Can you climb?”

Clarke shook her head.  Lexa looked around from her perch twelve feet up.  She saw what she was looking for and slid out of the tree.  “C’mon.”

Lexa led Clarke to a tree with low branches that even Clarke would be able to climb up.  Lexa scrambled halfway up the tree before Clarke even made it up two.  Lexa looked down at Clarke.  “Do you need help?”

Clarke nodded.  Lexa climbed back down a few branches and helped Clarke work her way up to a good vantage point.  They got comfortable sitting on a branch with Clarke against the trunk holding an arm around it to secure herself.  Lexa sat with her arm and leg touching Clarke.

The view of the lake sprawling out before them was breathtaking.  “It’s so pretty here,” Clarke said reverently.  Lexa nodded and stared out over the lake.  “Not as pretty as you, though.”

Lexa, despite her natural balance and quick reflexes nearly fell out of the tree.  She only managed to stay on the branch by grabbing onto Clarke.

“Be careful, Lex!”  Clarke reached out the hand not gripping the trunk to steady Lexa.  “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t, I-- I was just surprised.”

“You were surprised I think you’re pretty?”

Lexa swallowed hard and nodded.

“Lex, of course I think you’re pretty.  You’re probably the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”

Lexa was silent for a moment.  Clarke worried a little at first, but Lexa scooted back up against her.  They silently stared out at the water for a while longer.  Clarke had gotten so used to only hearing the breeze blow through the leaves and the water lapping gently at the bank that she was startled when Lexa spoke, “I think you’re really pretty, too.”

Clarke kissed Lexa’s cheek, put her arm around her shoulders, and then rested her head against Lexa’s chestnut mop.  They sat quietly for a long while.  

They heard a sharp rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat sound followed by a screechy bird call.  Clarke looked around nervously.  The rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat repeated.  “What is that?”

“A woodpecker?”  Lexa looked around for the bird.  The leaves were a little too full to see anything.  The rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat repeated again and again was followed by the screechy call.

“Nature is a little weird,” Clarke said.

“I like it.”

“Lexa!  Clarke!”  Gus’ voice called through the trees.  “Lunch!”

Clarke smiled at Lexa and slid down to the branch below.  She slowly picked her way back down the tree with Lexa staying just a branch above her.  As Clarke’s feet reached the last branch she slipped and lost her balance.  Lexa lunged to catch her and while she caught Clarke’s arm to steady her so she didn’t topple, Clarke unwittingly pulled Lexa down.  Lexa smashed full body into the lowest branch with a leg on either side of it.  Effectively racking herself on the branch.  There was no question that the pain between her legs was far worse than the pain where her chin and chest smashed into the limb.  Lexa slid off of the branch and fell the four feet to the ground landing on her back on top of Clarke.  Clarke had tried to catch her and acted more as a landing platform than a saviour.  

“Lex, tell me what hurts,” Clarke scrambled to get out from under Lexa to help her.

Lexa didn’t answer, huge silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she clutched at her crotch and writhed in pain.

Clarke looked at the scrape on Lexa’s chin and brushed the bark bits out of it.  “What can I do?”

Lexa just cried and shook her head.

“Can you walk?”

Lexa tried to stand.  Her legs folded, but Clarke caught her and half carried, half dragged Lexa back to the cabin.  “I’ve got you, Lex.  My Mom’s a doctor.”

Gus was on the porch waiting for them and saw the girls as they broke through the trees with Clarke drag carrying Lexa.  He jumped off the porch and ran to them, picking up Lexa out of Clarke’s arms.  “What happened?”

“We were climbing out of a tree and I slipped.  Lexa caught me but fell and hurt her . . . parts.”  Clarke began to cry.

Gus nodded and looked at the scrape on his baby girls chin.  He carried her into the house and laid her on the sofa.  “Abby, I need you!”  Gus called.

Abby walked into the living room from the kitchen, “Oh dear, Calamity Clarke strikes again.”

“MOM!”  Clarke yelled while tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Not your fault,” Lexa choked out.

Gus moved out of the way so that Abby could examine Lexa.  She checked the scrape under her chin, “Did you bite your tongue?”  Lexa shook her head no.  Abby lifted the injured girls t-shirt and prodded gently at her ribs.  “No breaks, there’s going to be some bruising, though.”  Abby hesitated. “Lexa, I need to check your…”

“No,” Lexa interrupted a little more forcefully than was probably ok.

“Lexa, I’m a doctor, if something ruptured, I need to know.”

“No.”

“Lexa!”  Gus interjected.

“No!”

“Lex,” Clarke cried.

“I don’t want her to see!” Lexa shouted, meltdown mode engaged.  

Anya ran into the living room.  “What the hell?”

Lexa was screaming, Gus was trying to hold her still.  Abby moved clear of the strike zone.  Clarke dove in on Lexa like she was a grenade about to blow.  She clung on for dear life as Lexa thrashed.  Only Lexa could hear her whispering, “It’s okay, Lex.  You’re okay, you’re safe.  I’ve got you.”

Lexa’s screams tapered off to low whines.  “I’ve got you, Lex.  You’re safe.  No one has to see.  You’re safe.”  They laid there with Lexa breathing heavily and Clarke continuing to comfort Lexa for several minutes.

Abby crouched down next to them with an ice pack.  “I need you to keep this on the area to reduce the swelling.”

“Believe me, Muppet, that’s gonna suck.”  Lexa chuckled at Jake, snot and tears still all over her face.

“If it still hurts in fifteen minutes, we have to go to the hospital, okay?”  Lexa nodded at Abby.  

Clarke climbed off of her friend and allowed Lexa to put the ice pack in the proper position.  Lexa leaned against Clarke and wiped her face.  Indra appeared next to them with a wet cloth for Lexa to wipe away the mess on her face.

“Get under your chin, too,” Abby told her.  

Lexa nodded and did as told.  “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, sweet girl,” Abby said.  “I understand.  When you feel like you can walk, I’d like for you to go into the bathroom and do a self exam, okay?”

Lexa nodded.  She snuggled into Clarke and they sat quietly on the sofa for awhile.  

Lexa didn’t want to eat.  Clarke picked at her sandwich while wrapped around the brunette.  Lexa removed the ice pack and extricated herself from Clarke.  “Bathroom,” she said when Clarke gave her a questioning look.  Lexa moved gingerly to the first floor bathroom and locked herself inside.

A few moments passed before Clarke heard Lexa calling out from the bathroom, “Mrs. Griffin?”

Clarke didn’t know if Abby would hear so she shouted, “MOM, LEXA’S CALLING YOU!”

Abby ran into the living room and looked around.

“She’s in the bathroom.”  Clarke looked concerned.

Abby nodded and knocked gently on the bathroom door, “Lexa?”

The door opened a crack and Abby slipped in.  A few moments later she slipped out again.  As she headed to the kitchen, she told Clarke, “No climbing on Lexa tonight, okay?”

“Okay, Mom.”

Lexa came out of the bathroom a few minutes later and curled back up next to Clarke.

“You want to go upstairs?”

Lexa nodded.  Clarke slid off the sofa and held out a hand to Lexa, who took it and pulled herself off the couch.

Lexa moved slowly, Clarke stayed beside her on every step.  When they got to the bedroom Clarke stripped the sheet and blankets off of the bed.  Lexa looked at her like she had grown a second head.  Clarke looked back with a grin and started moving furniture around the room.  After a few minutes she tossed the blankets and pillows in the middle and threw the flat sheet over the arranged furniture and created a blanket fort.  She turned to face Lexa with a big smile and gestured for her to climb in.  Once under the sheet they rearranged the pillows and blankets into a nest and snuggled up together.

Time passed, Clarke was unconcerned with it.  She was with Lexa and that was all she really wanted.

“I’m sorry you saw me like that,” Lexa whispered into the silence.  “Thank you for taking care of me.”

“I’ll always take care of you, Lexa.  Do you want to talk about it?”

Lexa nodded but went quiet again.  Clarke waited.

“I’m a girl,” Lexa started and stopped again.

“I know you are,” Clarke said softly into Lexa’s hair.

“I have ovaries, too.  We won’t know if they produce eggs until puberty.”

Clarke waited for Lexa to speak again.  She had taken advantage of all the time she spent on the computer to research Lexa’s condition.  She had also asked Abby a lot of uncomfortable questions.  Clarke knew all about genitalia and human reproduction now.

“I hate it, Clarke.  It doesn’t belong.”

“Anything that’s part of you can’t be wrong.  You’re my Lexa and you’re perfect.”

Lexa shook her head, “I wasn’t always Lexa.  I was Alex until I was three.  I wore boy clothes and Dad called me his son.”  Fat silent tears began to roll down her cheeks again.  “I can remember telling my mom that I wasn’t a boy.  I was screaming at her.  It’s the only clear memory I have of her.”  Lexa sniffled.  “Anya started calling me Lexa.  She didn’t think I should keep a boyish name if I was a girl.”

“She was right.”

“I am a girl.”

“The prettiest girl know,” Clarke agreed.  “How is it?  Do you need me to get you another ice pack?”

“It’s bruised and it hurts.”

“I feel weird calling it, it.  I don’t want to call it your penis, that’s so formal.”  Clarke snorted.  “Hello Lexa, dear, how is your penis today?”  Clarke said in a fake high society voice.

Lexa started giggling.

“Lovely to hear your penis is well,” Clarke continued.  “How it does get on!”

Lexa was cracking up.  “Clarke, stop, laughing hurts!”

“I’m going to call it Alex.  It’s yours, but not you,” Clarke declared.  Then thought about it, “Is that okay?”

Lexa pondered Clarke’s decision.  “I think so.”

“Okay, let me know if Alex needs anything for the pain,” Clarke grinned.

“Thank you for building the fort.”

“It’s a castle for my Queen!”

Lexa smiled a huge smile and Clarke melted.  She seemed to be doing that a lot around Lexa.  “I love you, Lex.”

“I know, Clarke. I love you, too.”

A few hours later when Anya came to collect them for dinner, she was surprised to find the blanket fort.  She ducked down and looked inside.  Clarke was asleep with her head on Lexa’s chest and Lexa was reading _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_.

“Hey,” Anya said uncharacteristically softly.

“Hey,” Lexa replied over the top of her book.

“How is it?”

“The book or my injury?”

“Either.”

“The book is good, you’ll like it.  I’ll be done soon, I’m sure Clarke will let you borrow it,” Lexa said.  “Clarke named it Alex, it’s me but not me.  Alex is bruised and sore.  Also, my stomach is sore.  Abby says it’s going to be sore for a few days though.”

“Alex, huh?”  Anya thought it over.  “Are you okay with personifying your penis?”

“I think so.  Makes it seem more like I can separate myself from it, kind of.”  She shrugged.  “I can’t explain.”

“I think you just like Clarke a lot and things that Clarke does are good as far as you’re concerned.”

“I don’t like Clarke, Ahn.  I love her.  She loves me, she doesn’t think my anatomy is weird, or wrong, or messed up.  She gave it a name.  I don’t feel like a freak.”

“You’re not a freak,” Anya and Clarke spoke at the same time.  Clarke’s voice heavy with sleep, though.

“At least not for that.  The way you climb trees is a little freaky,” Anya teased.

“I know!”  Clarke agreed.  “How does she do that?”

“Come on, I’m supposed to bring you down for dinner,”  Anya said.  “I have to warn you, things have gone a little weird.”

****

\------

****

Dinner was the kind of disaster that could only have been perpetrated by the father of Calamity Clarke.  Jake and Gus had managed to catch enough fish to make for a nice spread for dinner.  Which was great but then Gus made a rude comment about cooking freshly caught fish over electricity and things spiraled out of control.  They searched for a grill and couldn’t find one.  So they built a fire.  Once the fire was burning nicely the two engineers realized they didn’t have a pan that they could set in the fire.  So they began insanely complicated plans for a system to roast the fish over the fire.  

Abby ignored it for quite sometime while Indra worked out all of the ways that their construction project could end badly.  In an attempt to stop the madness, Indra demanded to see their permits and Jake waggled a fish on a marshmallow stick at her.  Gus found some cinder blocks, Jake found some scrolled garden fencing.  Somehow they managed to construct a fire pit around an already burning fire.  Jake cut and layered the fencing for a grill top.  They even took the precaution to lay aluminum foil over the fencing to prevent any chemicals from leeching into the fish.

They layered their carefully filleted fish on the aluminum foil and sat back pleased with themselves.  It must have been the number of beers consumed that caused them to not double check the metal that the fencing had been extruded from (aluminum) and since they were structural engineers and not chemical engineers it’s probable that they weren’t even aware that a well built campfire would burn hot enough to melt aluminum wire.  They were too busy patting themselves on the back and talking about the upcoming football season to see the little flames that indicated the melting of the solder that held the scrolling in place.  When their quickly constructed grill top collapsed into the fire, they were a little surprised.

“I knew we should have gone out for rebar,” Gus said.

Abby turned the hose on the fire and sent the men to sit on the porch and think about what they had done.  They drank more beers and talked about Alabama and LSU.

The Griffin's and the Woods' ate sandwiches for dinner.  Clarke made a strong argument for Fruity Pebbles, but Abby wasn’t in the mood.

The moral of this little sidebar is to never leave a pair of structural engineers alone with too much beer, not enough supervision, and a fire.  

****

\------

****

Clarke and Lexa returned to their blanket fort after dinner only to be called out again a few minutes later for bath time.  Clarke began to argue but lost all standing when Abby pulled a leaf from behind her ear.

After their separate baths, Lexa wasn't quite _that_ comfortable with Clarke, they returned to the blanket fort.  Lexa finished _Sorcerer’s Stone_ and moved on to _Chamber of Secrets_.  Clarke cuddled up close with her head on Lexa’s shoulder and convinced her to read the book aloud.  Clarke made it all the way to Nick’s Deathday party before she drifted off to sleep and dreamed of chestnut hair, green eyes, wood smoke, and the pounding of horse hooves.

 

 

 


	5. June 2001: Part Three

**_June 24, 2001_ **

****

Clarke decided that waking up wrapped around Lexa was her favorite way to start the day.

Lexa decided the same thing.

After such a hard day yesterday, Clarke wanted to do something fun.  “You want to go swimming today?”

“Good morning to you, too,” Lexa croaked.

“Good morning, Lexa, do you want to go swimming with me?”

“Okay.  We can cuddle for a bit first, right?”

“Yeah.”

The door swung open with barely a squeak.  “You cuddled all night, now you want to cuddle more?”  Anya stuck her head in the blanket fort.

“You act like cuddles aren’t awesome,” Clarke said.

Anya crawled into the center of the fort and half laid on Clarke and Lexa.  “Kinda lumpy.”

“Ahn, get off!”

“Ow!  You’re bonier than Lexa!”

“Anya quit torturing Clarke and Lexa,” Gus’ voice came through the door.

The sheet lifted and his smiling face appeared, eyes smiling.  “Nice fort.”

“Better than your grill,” Anya snarked.

“I don’t have to take this abuse,” Gus said, sheet dropping back down.  “No bacon for Anya.”

****

\------

****

Breakfast was amazing, Jake and Gus had gone all out to make up for the Fish Griller 6000 the night before.  The girls, all three of them, came down the stairs to eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, biscuits, gravy, and fresh blackberry compote from blackberries Jake picked that morning (he showed everyone the spots where thorns had gotten him).

Anya looked at the biscuits and gravy, “Are these grandma’s recipe?”

“Of course,” Gus confirmed.

“Aw, yeah!”  Anya grabbed two biscuits, split them open and dumped an obscene amount of gravy on them.

“Pancake?”  Jake offered as she headed to the table with her mouth already full.

“Nah,” she said and swallowed.  “I’m good.”

“Manners, Anya,” Indra scolded.

Anya had already shoveled another mouthful of food in so it took her a moment to chew, swallow, and say, “No thank you, Jake.  Dad never makes grandma’s biscuits and gravy, I don’t need anything else.”

Clarke looked at all of the food with eyes the size of saucers.  Clarke loved food.  Clarke loved pancakes.  The only thing that could have made the spread better would be shrimp and grits.  Since she was the only one present that liked them, she only got shrimp and grits when they went out for brunch at home.

“What’ll it be, Little Lion?”  Gus asked.

“I’ll have two of everything!”

“I think your eyes are bigger than your stomach, Little Lion.”

“Nah, she could pack it all away, but then she’d lay on the sofa all day and moan,” Jake explained.  “One pancake, one biscuit.  Gravy?”

Clarke nodded with a grin.

“Blackberry compote?”

A big smile and a nod.

“Eggs?”

“Eggs are for people who don’t have pancakes,” Clarke admonished.  “Double bacon!”

Jake looked at her.

“Double bacon, please?”

Jake handed Clarke her plate, complete with double bacon.  Clarke just grinned and carried it to the table where she found a spot next to Anya.

When Jake turned to get Lexa’s order he found her with one biscuit already in her mouth and a second in her hand.  “Did you want butter on that?”

Lexa smiled up at him around her biscuit and shook her head.  “Gravy?”

She split the biscuit she had in her hand and dropped it on the plate Jake held.  “So, that’s a yes?”

Lexa nodded, shoving the rest of her first biscuit into her mouth.

“Pancake?”

Lexa nodded.

“Butter?”

Lexa furrowed her eyebrows at Jake.

“So, no butter.”

Lexa swallowed the rest of her biscuit, “No butter, with blackberries.  Thank you!”  The last was added with a bright smile as she took her plate from Jake.

Anya had demolished her breakfast and was working on a slice of bacon Clarke slipped her.  Clarke was doing the chair happy dance while working on her pancake.  Lexa sat on Clarke’s right and their hands magically connected.

“Anya, where did you get that bacon?”  Gus asked.

Anya shoved the last of it into her mouth and chewed quickly.  “What bacon?” She said with her mouth still full of it.

Clarke started in on her biscuit and gravy.  “Mmmmmmm, this is really good, Gus!”

“That’s high praise even though she’ll eat almost anything,” Abby told Gus.

“Can I get another biscuit?”  Anya asked.

“Can you tell me who violated the Anya Bacon Ban?”  Gus inquired.

“Gotta protect my allies.”

“No more biscuits for you.”

“That’s okay, I wanna look good in my swimsuit, anyway.”

****

\-----

****

Clarke and Lexa went back upstairs to change out of their sleeping clothes and into swim suits.  Clarke being Clarke just stripped in front of the dresser.  Lexa blushed and stared into the dresser while Clarke slipped into her suit.

“Can you tie me?”  Clarke asked.  She was holding the top strings of her one piece behind her head.  

Lexa nodded and stepped behind Clarke to tie her suit on.

“Thank you,” Clarke smiled.  “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

Lexa was positive that Clarke could read her mind.  She stripped out of her clothes and stepped into her Spider-Man trunks.  She pulled on the sports bra style bikini top and tried not to think about Alex and the lingering bruising.

****

\------

****

As they stepped out of the back door of the cabin to head to the lake, they were ambushed.  Jake, Gus, and Anya had water guns pointed at them.

“Pre-soak!”  Gus howled with laughter.

“No fair!”  Clarke shouted.

“Look beside you, doof,” Anya shouted back.

There were two filled Super Soakers on the back porch swing.  Clarke lunged for them and handed one to Lexa before taking cover behind the porch swing.  

“Why are we hiding?”  Lexa whispered to Clarke.

“Because it’s war!”  Clarke whispered back.

“But we were going to get wet anyway.”

“I see your point,” Clarke nodded.  “Blitz attack and run for the lake?”

Lexa nodded, satisfied with the plan.  She jumped out and started firing on the enemy.  Clarke jumped out after her and hurtled down the steps soaking everything in her path.  Lexa followed aiming for faces while their fathers and Anya were distracted by Clarke’s blitz.  Clarke charged down the little dock and cannonballed into the lake still clutching her Super Soaker.   _Unlimited ammunition_ , Clarke thought.

Clarke popped up out of the water and started firing.  Lexa was backing down the dock taking calculated shots at her attackers.  She was pretty damp already but grinning like a maniac.  When Clarke’s shots flew past her she turned and dove into the lake.  She swam out to where she could barely touch, refilled her reservoir and started firing at the people on the dock.

Anya was tossing her gun, “This is only fun if they don’t want to be soaked.”  She dove into the lake.

****

\------

****

Sometime later both families were in the lake.  Clarke and Jake were playing chicken against Lexa and Gus.

“Get her Lexa, knock her off her high horse,” Jake shouted.

“Dad!”  Clarke cried out.  “You’re on my team!”

“I’m sorry, Clarke, I just like Lexa better.”

“DAD!”

****

\------

****

Sea otters hold hands when they sleep so they don’t drift apart.  Clarke and Lexa hold hands when they float.  Clarke thinks Lexa is more raccoon than sea otter.

Lexa knows that Gus calls Clarke ‘little lion’, but she thinks Clarke is more of a golden retriever.  Happy, loyal, smart, funny, cuddly, eager to swim.  

****

\------

****

Jake and Gus did a thing.

After lunch, all three girls were sleepily sprawled out on towels in the dock.  Lexa's head rested on Clarke's stomach while Clarke's fingers lazily played with Lexa's still damp curls.  They were aware of their Dads digging around in the storage area under the porch some time ago, but deemed it unimportant enough to concern themselves with.  

Suddenly, there was a deep, booming “YYYAAAAAHHHOOOOOOOO!” followed by a loud splash somewhere down the bank.  Lexa lifted her head and looked down the right side, nothing.  She looked down the left side and saw a man that looked a lot like her Dad climbing out of the lake.  She tried to focus in the bright sun.

A moment later a man on a rope flew out over the lake with a loud whoop.  He was sandy haired and built a lot like Jake.  He did a flip off of a rope with a loop tied at the bottom and dove into the lake.

“Clarke, Ahn,” Lexa said, watching Jake resurface.

“Hmmmm?” Anya hummed sleepily.

Clarke picked her head up and looked at Lexa.  Lexa nodded to where she was watching Jake climb up the bank.

“Is that my Dad?”

“Huh?”  Anya looked up in time to see Jake disappear and Gus swing out on the rope and cannonball into the water.

“They put up a rope swing and didn’t tell us!”  Clarke observed.

Anya sat up, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted, “You guys suck!”

Gus waved before pulling himself up the bank.  Jake swung out on the rope, waved at them and dove into the water.

The girls got up and hurried down the bank and into the woods to find where their fathers had hung the swing.  As they got closer they heard a loud splash and Jake laughing.

After some argument and negotiation, they formed an orderly line and took turns swinging out on the rope.

None of them noticed Abby going out onto the dock with the camera and taking pictures.  Indra sneaked up on them with the video camera and recorded several minutes of the younger girls swinging out and Gus catching them and throwing them back to Jake to reload them back onto the swing.  Anya splashed water at them coming and going.  Everyone laughing like fools.

Eventually the fathers tired themselves out with this routine and headed back to the cabin to see what other kind of trouble they could get into.  The girls played for awhile longer before getting tired themselves and heading back towards the cabin.

Lexa passed a discarded Super Soaker and stopped to pick it up.  It still had water in it.  She aimed and fired right in the center of Anya’s back.  Anya shrieked as the cold water hit her and rounded on Lexa who laughed and shot her in the face before running off the dock.

Anya grabbed Clarke who had been laughing, “I’ve got your girl for a hostage, Lex!”

Clarke stopped giggling and tried to pull out of Anya’s grip.

Lexa observed from the water with only the top of her head and eyes sticking out of the water.  She dove and slipped under the dock out of Anya’s view.  She took the opportunity to refill her Super Soaker before swimming a few feet to jump out of the water firing indiscriminately just off the bank.  Clarke took the brunt of the hits but Anya took many hits to the face.

“LEXA!”  Clarke sputtered between shots.

“Sorry, Clarke, this is war.”  Lexa said stoically while continuing to fire on them.

“Let me go, Ahn, I’m gonna kill her!”  Anya smirked and released the little blonde ball of rage.

“Oh crap,” Lexa squeaked.  She tossed her weapon and jumped up the bank.  If she could get to the safety of the trees, she could wait until Clarke calmed down.

Clarke was surprisingly fast.  Lexa only made it a few yards before Clarke tackled her from behind and rubbed her face in the grass.  “Never betray me like that again!”

“I won’t!  Ow!”

Anya was laughing so hard she had to sit down.

“Say you’re sorry!”

“Confessions made under duress are not admissible in court!”  Lexa argued.

Clarke rubbed her face in the grass again.  “I’m gonna show you duress!”

Lexa spit little pieces of grass out of her mouth.  “I did it for my people!”

“I’M YOUR PEOPLE!”  Clarke shouted and pushed her face back into the grass.

Anya was holding her sides, laughing.  “Oh my God, make them stop, it hurts.”

“I have to make hard decisions in battle, Clarke!”

“How hard is the ground in your face?!”

“Not very,” Lexa spit out more grass.

Clarke giggled.

Jake stuck his head out of the cabin door, “Clarke, get off Lexa and get washed up for dinner.”

Clarke got up and offered Lexa a hand up.

Lexa took it and stood up.  “We probably should stick to fighting on the same side.”

“You only say that because I was winning.”

****

\-----

****

The adults decided that Clarke and particularly Lexa, who was covered in dirt, grass, and grass stains, had to bathe before dinner.  They were too filthy for a standard hand and face washing.

Both Clarke and Lexa had mild sunburns.  Both wrinkled their noses at the aloe Abby spread on their shoulders.  

“Your cheeks are burnt,” Lexa grinned at Clarke.

“I think your freckles got darker,” Clarke observed moving very close to Lexa’s face.  Clarke kissed the tip of Lexa’s nose and giggled at Lexa crossing her eyes to try to see her freckles.

 

\--------

 

After dinner Clarke and Lexa wandered out on the upstairs porch to look up at the stars.  They curled up together in the chair that afforded them the most space, Lexa leaned her back against Clarke's front.

For a very long time they were stunned into silence by the number of stars in the sky.  They gaped at being able to see an arm of the Milky Way.

“There are so many more stars here than at home.  I feel . . . small.”  Clarke whispered after a long while.  

“You are kind of small,” Lexa grinned.

The silenced stretched on for a few more minutes.

“Do you think there are others out there?”  Lexa asked.

“I hope so,” Clarke answered.

“I feel small too, Clarke.”

"Clarke, get off Lexa long enough to get in bed!"  Jake called through the house.

"HA!"  Clarke shouted.  "Shows what you know, Lexa's on me!"

 

 


	6. June 2001:  Part Four

**_June 25, 2001_ **

****

Clarke opened her eyes to Lexa’s sleepy green ones.  They were curled up in the king sized bed because Abby had put the room back together the day before and forbid Clarke to rebuild the blanket fort when she kissed Clarke goodnight.

Lexa smiled at her.  Clarke admired Lexa’s newly visible freckles and the way even Lexa’s eyes smiled.

Lexa leaned forward and gently kissed Clarke on the tip of her nose.  “Good morning, Clarke.”

Clarke smiled, “Good morning, Lexa.”

Clarke burrowed into the spot under Lexa’s chin and pulled her closer.

“My Lexa.”

“Your Lexa,” the brunette sighed contentedly.

****

\------

****

Anya had a backpack loaded with water bottles, a first aid kit, snacks, and a compass.  They didn’t know how the compass was supposed to make a difference if they were eaten by bears, by who were they to question it.  

Anya and Lexa wanted to go hiking.  Clarke would have much preferred to spend the day flopped on the dock, but where Anya went, Lexa went, and where Lexa went, Clarke was sure to follow.

In order to get the adults to agree to let them go without adult supervision, they had to agree to keep the lake in sight and be back before dark.  Jake voiced concerns for their safety and Anya wrestled him to the ground.  He withdrew his concerns.

Now here they were, wandering up what Clarke was sure would qualify as a mountain, Anya called it a little hill.  

Lexa kept a close eye on Clarke, she knew Clarke wasn’t outdoorsy and needed assistance.

“Can we rest?”  Clarke asked eyeing a nice rocky place to sit.

Anya looked around, “Yeah, I guess.”

Lexa dashed up a tree.  Clarke had seen it four times already today and was still dumbfounded by how quickly Lexa went up and down trees.  

Lexa went up as far as she could safely go.  She managed to break the canopy and saw the lake off to her right.  She saw a clearing a hundred or so yards ahead of them.   She took a moment to enjoy the breeze and being so high up.  

Clarke watched the lanky girl disappear into the leaves.  Lexa always wanted to reach up to the sky, which Clarke found terrifying, because the blonde really wanted to stay on the ground.  Lexa reappeared slipping silently back down the trunk.  “Were you secretly raised by raccoons?”  Clarke asked once her feet were back on the ground.

Lexa looked at her like she had grown a second head.

“What did you see, sis?”  Anya asked.

“There’s a clearing that way,” Lexa pointed.

****

\------

****

A few minutes later, Clarke would have said days later, they came to a clearing high on the hill.  It was a field full of wildflowers.

Lexa gasped and ran out into the flowers.

“We’re going to be here for awhile,” Anya said.

Clarke followed after Lexa.  

Before long Clarke was making flower crowns from the heaps of flowers Lexa picked.  Lexa lay on the ground looking up at the clouds with her head resting on Clarke’s legs.

Anya lay on the ground nearby also looking up to the sky.

“That one looks like a giant gorilla,” Lexa pointed.  

“I can see it, this one looks like an evil clown,” Anya pointed at another cloud.

“Not that I’m going to have clown nightmares or anything now.”  Clarke said placing a crown of little purple flowers on Lexa’s upturned face.

“Are you afraid of clowns, blondie?”

Clarke avoided looking and Anya, “No.”

“That’s a yes.”  Anya said.  “Is it the creepy make-up or the freaky wigs?”

“Both.”

“I don’t like that they think it’s okay to reach out a touch some strangers kid,” Lexa told them.

****

\-----

****

Three hours later the three girls wandered back to the cabin with minimal scrapes and bruising.  Clarke only tripped once and Lexa was there to catch her before she face planted into a tree.

Lexa was wearing four flower crowns, one white, one yellow, one purple, and one blue.  Lexa couldn’t find enough red flowers for Clarke to weave into crowns.  Clarke was wearing a blue flower crown because Lexa told her that blue was her favorite color.  Anya refused to appear in public wearing a flower crown.  Lexa also carried two bundles of flowers for Indra and Abby.  She also had one big black-eyed susan to tuck behind Gus’s ear.  Jake complained that he didn’t get a flower so Lexa gave him her blue flower crown.  He wore it through dinner until a spontaneous wrestling match broke out in the living room after the meal.  The blue flower crown didn’t make it.

Gus wore the flower Lexa stuck behind his ear until bedtime and then carefully pressed it to take home.

****

\------

**_June 29, 2001_ **

****

Friday morning came all too soon.

While Tuesday and Wednesday had been full of fun and adventures, most of Thursday had passed with Lexa and Clarke curled up together someplace quiet either talking or more often than not just being close.

When Jake came in to wake them Friday morning he found Lexa asleep on her back with Clarke draped over her like a blanket.  Clarke’s head was tucked under Lexa’s chin and Lexa had both arms wrapped around Clarke’s back.  He went to get Abby’s camera and took a picture before shouting, “Clarke, get off Lexa!”

Lexa’s eyes flew open and she tried to jump up, but lethargic koala Clarke barely had her eyes open.  Lexa was pinned.

“No, Dad.”

“Yes, Clarke.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I don’t want to do a lot of things but I do them anyway.”

****

\------

****

Half an hour later Clarke and Lexa were dressed and wrapped around each on the front porch swing.  Jake and Gus were finish up loading the vehicles while Anya, Indra, and Abby walked through the cabin to make sure nothing was forgotten.

“I don’t want to go back and have to put up with Wells,” Clarke complained.  “And that Jasper kid is annoying.”

“Just tackle them to the ground and rub their faces in the dirt until they bend to your will,” Lexa said.

“You didn’t bend to my will.”

Lexa shrugged and smirked.

“What does that mean?”

“I love you.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I’m not, Clarke.”

“Oh.”  Eight year olds should not love another person not related to them this much.  Clarke pecked Lexa gently on the lips.  The sun wasn’t even all the way up yet and Clarke could see how red Lexa’s tiny ears had gotten.  “You’re tiny red ears are cute.”

“I’m not cute, Clarke.”

“You are very cute, Lexa.”

****

\------

****

Gus, Indra, Jake, Abby, and Anya all stood by the cars.

“Somebody has to go tell them it’s time to go,” Indra said.

“Uh uh, not happening,” Anya disappeared behind the Cherokee.

Jake looked at Indra, “It was your idea, you do it.”

“Big strong Dads afraid to go tell two little girls it’s time to go,” Anya snarked from behind the Cherokee.

“Anya, go tell Clarke and Lexa it’s time to go,” Gus said.

“Nope,” Anya declined.  “You guys are the adults.”

“Paper, rock, scissors to be the bad guy?”  Jake said.

****

\-----

****

“It’s time to go, Monkey,”  Gus lost.  It was hard to tell who was sadder.  Lexa and Clarke were just saying goodbye to each other.  But Gus was the villain, he hated making Lexa sad.  Clarke’s bottom lip quivered, but Lexa had those big, fat, silent, tears.

“I --,” Clarke started, but the words didn’t come just a choked sob.

Lexa hugged Clarke as tightly as she could.  “Call me as soon as you get home.”

Clarke nodded with tears running down her face.

“I love you too, Clarke.”  Lexa said as Gus picked her up and tried to keep her from seeing his tears.

Jake was right behind him to grab an inconsolable Clarke.

“Call us as soon as you get home,” Gus said.  “Be careful.”

“You too, Gus.”

Jake got into the driver’s seat and tried not to let Clarke’s sobs get to him.  It didn’t really work.  The two cars got back to the main road, Jake turned to go south, Gus turned to go north.  Clarke and Lexa both watched after the other car until it was out of sight.

****

\----------

****

“We’re home,” Jake said into the phone.

“How was the trip?” Gus asked.

“You’ve met my daughter.  Yours?”  

“The same, but quieter.  Anya complained every so often to break up the monotony.”

“Clarke is staring at me.”

“Lexa is giving me those big puppy eyes.”

“Here.” In Metairie, Jake held out the phone to Clarke.

In DC, Gus handed the phone to Lexa.

“Lexa?”

“Hi, Clarke.”

“I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.”

Seven and eight year olds should not have to experience heartbreak like this.

****

\------

**_July 2001_ **

****

Lexa and her cousin Lincoln are in the Woods’ back yard practicing Lexa’s passing.  She agreed with Lincoln that football would be fun.  She signed up and after Indra threatened to bring down the JAG Corps of all five branches of the military down on them, she was allowed to play.  After the first try out, the coach wanted her to be his quarterback.

Gus got home from work and found a medium sized box on the front step.  In very neat script it was address to The Birthday Girl, ℅ The Woods Clan.

Gus carried the box through the house and out the backdoor.

“Hey Uncle Gus,” Lincoln called catching Lexa’s pass.

“Hey Linc, looking good.  Watch your feet coming down though,” Gus played football in high school in suburban Atlanta.  “Monkey, you have a package from New Orleans.”

At the mention of New Orleans, Lexa forgot all about football and ran to her Dad.  “What is it?”

“I don’t know, Monkey.  I didn’t even know it was coming.”

Lexa took the package and after a quick once over knew she was going to need something sharp to open it.  “I need your pocket knife.”

“I’ll do it, you’re excited enough to cut yourself.”  Gus took the package and walked back into the house, followed by Lexa and Linc.  He sat the package on the kitchen table and pulled out his pocket knife.  Three quick cuts and he slid the box back to Lexa without even lifting a flap.

Lexa was so excited to get a box from Clarke that she was practically shaking.  She lifted the flaps, inside she saw two resealable containers and something wrapped in a plastic bag.  She pulled out the first container and pulled the note off the top.  

 

 

> _Dear Lexa,_
> 
> _Happy 8th Birthday!  These are beignets, they’re kind of like a donut here.  Dad said sending a cake wouldn’t be practical.  He wasn’t sure how well the beignets would ship so the next container is chocolate croissants. I wish we could share them._
> 
> _The wrapped gift is from Dad, he won’t tell me what it is.  The bag is from me.  I miss you._
> 
> _Love,_
> 
> _Clarke_

****

Lexa opened the beignets and looked to Gus for permission.  They were obviously coated in sugar and Indra usually objected to her ruining her dinner.

They shared a couple of beignets and agreed that they did not travel well but were good nonetheless.  Lexa pulled out the container with chocolate croissants and slid them off to the side unwilling to share them with Lincoln.  Chocolate croissants were best with Clarke.

She pulled out the plastic bag and unwrapped a plush raccoon, Lexa smiled.  The wrapped package came out last and she carefully unwrapped a Muppets Chess Set from Jake.  She chuckled, “Gonzo’s a knight.”

****

\-------

****

“Thank you, Jake.  I love it!  Dad and I taught Lincoln to play so he can play with me, too.”

“You’re welcome, Muppet.  Happy Birthday!  Abby sends her love, she’s working tonight.  Clarke is waiting to talk to you.”

“Happy Birthday, Lexa!”  Clarke practically shouted into the phone.

“Thank you, Clarke.  I’ll sleep with it every night, it kind of smells like you.”

“I slept with it for two nights.  Dad thought I was crazy.”  She shouted to Jake, “She liked that it smelled like me!”

Faintly Lexa could here Jake shouting back from another room, “Her sense of smell is damaged!”  

“Thank you for the croissants and the powdered sugar things.”

“Ben-yays,” Clarke pronounced.  “They’re best hot out of the fryer.  Dad lets me have a latte when I eat them.  Makes me sleepy, though.”

“Coffee makes you sleepy?”

“Uh huh.  It’s the ADHD.  I’m not medicated, I’m caffeinated.”

Lexa laughed.  “I love you, Clarke.”

“I love you too, Lex.” **  
**

 

 


	7. September 2001

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: 9/11. Nothing graphic.

**_September 8, 2001_ **

It’s a beautiful Saturday morning in the Nation’s Capitol and Lexa Woods was about to start her first pee-wee football game.  She was nervous and felt like she was buzzing slightly.  Gus, Indra, and Anya were sitting in the stands with Uncle Nyko, Lincoln’s dad.  They saw her looking and waved.  Coach called them into a huddle.  Lexa only heard about half of what he said.  There was a buzzing in her ears and she kept looking at her family.

“Alright, let’s get out there!  On three!”  Coach said enthusiastically.

The whole team chanted together, “One, two, three, WARRIORS!”

The Warriors had won the coin toss and Lexa led the offense out onto the field.  Lexa lined up behind her center, his name was Cal and he was a thick little guy who Lexa thought was just bursting with rage.  He probably should have been a tackle, but Lexa felt a little safer with him as her first line of defense.  She glanced over at Lincoln.  He was focused on his guards and didn’t look at Lexa.  He knew the play, she knew the play.

Cal snapped the ball, Lexa fell back and pretended to look for wide receivers and Linc pulled away and ran across behind Lexa.  She tossed him the ball and he shot around the cluster of players around Lexa and gained 20 yards before the opposing team's cornerback finally brought him down.  Lexa managed to escape her first play unsacked.  She felt pretty good.  She looked to the stands and saw her family cheering like crazy.  She smiled and wished Clarke was there.

They formed up on the line of scrimmage and the rest of the world just faded away.  If it wasn’t on the field, Lexa blocked it out.  They didn’t need a huddle.  This whole drive was pre-planned.  Cal signaled the play number as a reminder, Lincoln fidgeted.  The opposing guards were focused on Lincoln.  Cal snapped the ball, Lexa fell back, locked eyes on the left wide receiver who was looking back at Lexa for the ball.  By the time the defense shifted focus from Linc to the wide receiver, Lexa handed the ball off to the half back that was suddenly tearing off down the right side.  He gained 11 yards before the full force of a linebacker slammed him to the ground.  Another first down and the goal was in sight.  

They had practiced this a lot.  Lexa got sacked about half the time when they practiced it.  But in her defense, her team knew the play and didn’t fall for the fakes.

Cal snapped the ball, Lexa fell back, Lincoln ran in front of her, she faked a handoff.  He tucked an imaginary ball and shot off.  The full back ran behind her, she faked another handoff and he ran the opposite direction from Linc.  The defense started to split after the tight end and fullback.  Lexa looked out at her ride side wide receiver trying to look inconspicuous heading for the end zone.

Lexa released the ball just as a linebacker hit her midsection.  She tried to watch the ball as she fell.  As she hit the ground the outside world filtered back in and she could hear the crowd in the stands going wild.  “Ow,” she said.

“Touchdown, Warriors!” Somebody was shouting.  The crowd was on their feet cheering.  

“Sorry,” the linebacker said getting up.  “It’s my job.”

“Yeah,” Lexa said.  “Clean hit, nice job.”  Her teammates were pulling her up and patting her on the back.

“Awesome pass, Woods!” Some one shouted.

Lincoln grabbed her in a hug and spun her around.

\------

They won the game 27 - 6.  Gus made a deal with a parent at the top of the stands and got a copy of the game tape.  When they got home he hooked the VCR up to the computer and transferred it to the hard drive.  A few hours later he had uploaded it to a website so Jake and Clarke could watch from their house in Metairie.  

\------

Clarke and Jake watched on the computer on Sunday afternoon while Clarke commented to Lexa on AIM.

On the video playback it was easy to hear Nyko shouting, “Go, Linc, go!” anytime his son had the ball.  During every offensive play, Gus could be heard telling everyone in the stands that the awesome new Warriors quarterback was his baby girl.

****

**September 11, 2001**

****

**6:15 AM CDT**

_Bzz - Bzz - Bzz - Bzz_

Abby tapped the snooze button on the alarm and slipped out of bed.  She had a nine minute head start on Jake.  Into the shower, wash, rinse, dry.  She’s slipping out of the bedroom in her bathrobe when the alarm goes off again.

**6:24 AM CDT**

Jake rolls over to Abby’s side of the bed and flips the alarm switch to off.  He looks around sleepily.  A quick stretch and he staggers to the bathroom, lather, rinse, repeat?   _Need coffee, mmmmm, coffee._

**6:33 AM CDT**

Abby returns to the bedroom with a travel mug of coffee.  Into the dresser, soft well worn jeans, comfortable t-shirt.  Abby dressed quickly.  She was on the ER  rotation today and would be in scrubs the whole shift.

**6:35AM CDT**

A still slightly damp Jake slips an arm around his mostly dressed wife and kisses her good morning.  He takes a long pull on her coffee before going into the closet for slacks, shirt, and tie.

**6:38 AM  CDT**

“Don’t forget to call the optometrist to make an appointment for Clarke.  You should probably make one for you, too.”

“I will, Abs.”

“I should be home in time to cook dinner tonight.”

Kisses and ‘I love yous’ are exchanged and Abby heads out to start her day.

**6:51 AM CDT**

Jake pours the coffee Abby left in the pot for him and starts another pot.  He flips on Good Morning, America and goes to the front door to get the paper off the door step.

Thelonius Jaha is outside putting something in his mailbox to go out, he spots Jake and smiles and waves.  Jake waves back, with a fake smile plastered on.  Jake considered getting a rainbow flag to hang on the house.  He had really grown to hate Jaha since June.

Jake takes the paper to the kitchen table and enjoys his first cup of coffee in peace before waking Clarke.

**7:15 AM CDT**

Jake knocks on Clarke’s bedroom door.  “Morning, Sunshine!”

A low growl emits from Clarke’s room.

Jake opens the door and smiles, “I’m sorry, I was looking for my little girl, I didn’t know there was a bear here.  Did you eat my kid?”

Another growl.

Jake moves to the bed and pulls the blankets back off of the blondes head.  “Oh, there’s Clarke.  Never mind Mr. Bear.”

Clarke growls at him.

“Clarke, did you eat a bear?”  

Another low growl.

“Maybe you’re just hungry.  I’m going to start breakfast, I expect you downstairs and dressed in fifteen minutes.”

**7:35 AM CDT**

Clarke slides into her seat at the kitchen table.  She’s surly.  She gives the bowl of oatmeal her father made for her a dirty look.

“Look at little Mary Sunshine.  Nice of you to join me for breakfast,” Jake joked over his newspaper.

Clarke plucked out the Features section and flipped to the comics page.  She looked at her oatmeal warily, “Is that . . . bacon?

“Maple bacon oatmeal, Clarke!”  Jake was pleased with his genius.

“Couldn’t I have just had the bacon?”

“Then how would I get you to eat your oatmeal?”

“Exactly, Dad.”

Clarke takes a bite and decides it’s not the most offensive thing she’s ever eaten.  The morning news drones on in the background.  Something about a cable show.  Commercials.  Some English lady.  Clarke read the comics.

“Clarke you need to finish getting ready,”  Jake said.  She dropped her spoon with a clatter and headed out of the room.

**7:51 AM CDT**

Jake is folding up his paper, Clarke is in the hall closet digging out shoes and her backpack.

“. . . that there has been an explosion at the World Trade Center in New York City.”  Diane Sawyer was saying on the television.

Jake forgot the newspaper and Clarke in the hall and focused on the television.  One of the World Trade Center towers was smoking near the top.  He heard the unconfirmed report that a plane had hit the tower.  He did some quick math in his head and hoped they were getting everyone out safely.  

The anchors kept mentioning a prior terrorist attack on the towers.

 _That’s a lot of smoke_ , Jake thought.  A guy on the phone says it sounded like a missile.

Clarke wandered back into the room, shoes on, backpack slung over one shoulder.  She glances at Jake and sees his attention focused on the television.  She turns her head to look at the television.  Smoke pouring from a building, sirens in the background and people talking quickly.  

“Dad, what happened?”

“They think a plane flew into a building in New York.”

“ . . . a jet . . .” the people on television weren’t really saying anything that pulled Clarke’s focus from the helicopter flying around the building pouring smoke.  “. . . deliberate . . .”

“Did someone do that on purpose?”  Clarke asked.  “How many people work there?”

“I don’t know, Clarke,” Jake said.  “A lot I think.”

The pair of them continued to gape at the television as the minutes ticked by.  So much smoke.

**8:02 AM CDT**

A plane entered the screen from the right and disappeared behind the building with an explosion coming from the left side.

Clarke cried out.

“. . . concerted attack . . “

The phone rang.  Clarke picked it up.  “He-hello,” she said obviously crying.

“Baby, I need to talk to Daddy,” her mother’s voice said.

Clarke handed her father the cordless.

“Hello,” he said shakily and listened.  “Yeah, I agree.  Call me when you can.”

Jake ended the call and dialed another number.  “Hi, Greg, have you seen?  I’m going to keep Clarke home today.  I had a light day, call me if you need anything.”

“I’m not going to school?”

Jake shook his head.  Normally a day off would be a reason for celebration for Clarke.  But she had just watched a plane fly into a building repeatedly over the last several minutes and thought celebrating would be in bad taste.  She did drop her backpack and kick her shoes off.  Jake stared at the television.  There were close ups of the holes and flames visible in them.

“. . . plane was hijacked . . .”

“ . . . terrorist attack . . .”

“. . . terrorism . . .”

“Dad, what does that mean?”

Jake blinked at his almost nine year old.  “Clarke.”

Clarke waited, watching the smoke billow out of the buildings.

He tried to organize his thoughts, most of them were about the structural stability of the towers and the amount of people in them.   _She shouldn’t be watching this, she’s just a baby_.

Clarke looked at him, why did she always seem so much older?  “Dad?”

“Um, I’m sorry, Bug.  You’re so young and I probably shouldn’t let you watch this.”

“A little late, Dad.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.  Terrorists are bad people who try to force opinion using fear . . . terror.  Do you understand?”

Clarke nodded and looked at the television again.  “Dad, are those buildings going to be okay?”

“No, sweetheart, they aren’t.”

“What about the people, Dad?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart.”

Clarke picked up her backpack and shoes and put them back in the hall closet.  Then she walked back into the kitchen and picked up her oatmeal bowl and put it in the sink.  She looked back at the comic strips on the table.  Clarke sat back down and re-read the comics.  She couldn’t keep watching, but she didn’t want to be away from Jake.

**8:41 AM CDT**

“ . . . there is a plane circling the White House . . . ”

Clarke’s head snapped up.  She knew where the White House was.  The White House was in DC.  Lexa was in DC.  Gus worked near the White House.

The view changed from the smoking Towers to a shorter building that looked kind of like Liberty Hall at Disney World with a visible plume of black smoke.

“ . . . Old Executive Office Building . . .”

The camera wiggled around, Clarke sees the Washington Monument.  The people on television talking had no idea where the smoke was coming from.

“. . . fire confirmed at the Pentagon . . .”

Clarke looked at Jake who was had gone pale.  Sometimes Indra worked at the Pentagon.  She didn’t know what she did there.  Lexa told her she was a military lawyer, she didn’t know what that had to do with the Pentagon.

Jake picked up the phone.  He dialed quickly.

“Hey guys, Clarke and I are watching the news this morning.  Call us as soon as you can.”  Jake hung up.

Clarke stared at him.  Her face begged him to do something.

He got up from the table and walked to the phone base on the kitchen counter.  He picked up Abby’s address book and brought it back to the table.  He flipped to the W’s and dialed Indra’s cellular phone first.  It buzzed at him, the network must be overloaded.  He dialed Gus’ cellular phone.

“Jake!”  Gus said loud enough for Clarke to hear.  “I’m fine, the girls are at school.  Indra was across the river, I can’t get ahold of her, but she was not supposed to leave HQ today.”

“Ok, I kept Clarke home with me this morning.”

“The phones are jammed and going down.  I’ll call when I can.  I’m going to try to get the girls and take them home.  Hug Clarke for me.”

“Stay safe, Gus.”  Jake hung up.  Clarke slid out of her seat and climbed up onto her father’s lap.  Jake wrapped his arms around his baby girl while she buried her face in his shirt.  “The girls are at school.  Indra wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near the Pentagon, okay.”

Clarke nodded into his chest.

“Don’t snot on my silk tie, Clarke.”

Jake looked up at the television and saw a Tower crumble.  The people on television thought it was just a new plume.  Jake held Clarke to him so she couldn’t look.

“. . . the South Tower . . .”

“. . . massive casualties . . .”

“Dad?”  A muffled question from his chest.

“I don’t want you to see.”  Jake looked at the cloud of smoke and dust covering Manhattan.

“If you don’t want me to see, then it’s bad enough that I don’t want you to see either.”

Jake kissed his little girl on the top of her head.  “I know, sweetheart, but I’m a grown up and it’s my job to see the bad things.”

“Can we turn it off?”

“That would probably be best, but we don’t know that it’s over.”

Clarke nodded in his chest.

Once they heard that all Federal buildings in DC had been evacuated, they began to relax.  All planes were ordered grounded, nothing was allowed to take off.  

Then Jake heard the word “leaning” and his eyes snapped to the screen again.  If Jake was a religious man, he would have prayed and hoped for the best.  But Jake was an engineer and knew that hoping for the best wasn’t an option.  He stood from his chair still holding Clarke and walked into the living room.  He sat her down on the sofa and looked for something to keep their hands busy and minds occupied.  They played a lot of Go Fish that morning.  After that day, Clarke would never want to play Go Fish again.

**12:15 PM CDT**

The phone rang, Clarke leapt from her spot on the floor by the coffee table and grabbed the phone from the end table.

The caller ID said Woods, Augustus.  Clarke answered it.  “Gus?”

“Clarke,” Lexa’s voice was just about the most beautiful thing Clarke had ever heard.

“Lex!  I was so scared.”

“Me, too.”  Lexa told her.  “It’s crazy here.  Indra is still trying to get home.  Dad can’t find Uncle Nyko, he’s worried.  Lincoln is with us.”

“I hope he’s safe.  I’m glad you’re safe.  I miss you.”

“I miss you, too.  Dad said we might go to New Orleans for Christmas.  He just wants to walk on the levees.”  Clarke could hear the smile in Lexa’s voice.  “He’s saying I should get off the phone.  I’ll meet you online in a few minutes?”

“Yeah, I love you, Lexa.”

“I love you, too, Clarke.”

****

\------

****

**MonkeyLex:**  Uncle Nyko didn’t make it out.

 **PrincessClarke:**  I’m so sorry, Lexa.

 **MonkeyLex:**  I guess I have a brother now.

 **PrincessClarke:**  You want to talk?

 **MonkeyLex:**  Yeah.

 

 


	8. Holidays 2001:  Part One

**October 2001**

_**Louisiana** _

Jake Griffin is done being polite to Thelonius Jaha.  

Jake was at work.  It was Birthday Cake Day.  Jake’s favorite work day of every month was Birthday Cake Day.  They would order the cakes from a fantastic little bakery over in the the Marigny, every month the cake was a different flavor.  Last month was Italian Wedding Cake, Jake went back for seconds.  Clarke may have come by her sweet tooth honestly.  Abby always got onto them about their sugar intake, but Jake exercised and sometimes Clarke peeled herself off the sofa to do something outside.  He might need to enroll her in taekwondo or something.  Was enrolling an ADHD girl into a martial art a good idea?  She’d hit _him_ if he enrolled her in gymnastics.  After the phone call he had just gotten, Clarke needed to channel her violent impulses.  He would discuss it with Abby tonight.  Clarke may have inherited her ADHD from him as well.

Diana Sydney called Jake at work to inform him that Clarke had punched Wells Jaha in the face and then kicked him in the balls.  Ms. Sydney didn’t say ‘kicked him in the balls,’ she said ‘physically assaulted Wells both above and below the belt.’  He had not gotten her to explain why Clarke thought today was the day to beat down the Jaha boy, but Jake had a pretty good idea.  He had heard that in the wake of 9/11 Jaha’s sermons were getting more and more bigoted and xenophobic.  Whatever Thelonius preached from the pulpit, Wells regurgitated on the playground.

Jake parked in a visitor space at Clarke’s school and headed for the office.  He made this trip often enough that he knew to watch his step where the tree root had cracked the sidewalk.  That little dip surprised a lot of parents.  

He opened the front office door and walked into bedlam.  

Two adults were holding Clarke, forcibly keeping her from pounding the Jaha boy into a stain on the floor.  Her face was red, fists balled up, yanking and pulling at her limbs to get away from the adults while yelling, “When I get my hands on you, Jaha, you’ll wish you were in your daddy’s bullshit City of Light!”

“CLARKE!”  Jake admonished.  “I told you, no swearing until you have your driver's license.”

Ms. Sydney, who was pulling Wells to safety gave Jake a dirty look.  “Mr. Griffin!”

“What, swearing is a very important part of driving, Ms. Sydney.”

“Come here you cowardly little prick!”  Clarke’s rampage continued.

“CLARKE!”

“DAD!  They won’t let me go!  I need to smash his stupid face in!”

Jake swooped over and snatched up his little blonde ball of rage.  Holding her tightly to his chest he asked, “What did he say this time?”

“He told me I was going to burn in hell and he hoped Nadim and his family get locked up for being terrorists.  Nadim’s family aren’t terrorists, his mom always brings us these really good almond cookies dipped in chocolate.  His dad teaches at Loyola!”

“Ms. Sydney, are you going to do something about the Jaha boy spreading his father’s hateful nonsense or am I calling my attorney?”

“Jake,” Thelonius’ silky voice made him cringe.  The elder Jaha was walking in the office door.  Jake took satisfaction in seeing a scuff on the knee of his slacks where he obviously tripped on the crack in the sidewalk.  “I’m not spreading hate, merely preparing people for things to come.  It’s your daughter that chooses the path of violence.  Children who don’t conform are the result of weak parenting.”  

Jake was so surprised and angry that he let his grip on Clarke slip.  Before he knew what happened, Clarke was wailing on Wells again.  It was all he could do not to punch the elder Jaha, if he didn’t have to recapture Clarke, he probably would have.  He didn’t hear Wells tell Clarke, “You’re an abomination.” or he would have let her continue to wail on him.  Luckily, Diana Sydney did hear Wells taunt Clarke.

“Mr. Griffin, I’m going to ask you to take Clarke home.  She will be permitted to return tomorrow after she has calmed down,” the principal began.  “Mr. Jaha, Wells is suspended for three days.  If he continues to verbally attack my students with hate and xenophobia, I will expel him.  This is a school, not a pulpit.”

\------

Jake took Clarke for beignets at Morning Call on the way home.  That night she called Lexa and ranted for thirty minutes before Jake told her to stop running up his phone bill and use the internet.

\------

On Clarke’s 9th birthday she received a box from DC.

Lexa sent her a Warriors jersey, a box of Bernie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, and a hand full of Hershey’s Kisses.  

Clarke called her and they talked for an hour.  Clarke always missed Lexa, but her heart ached when they talked on the phone.

****

**District of Columbia**

Lexa had been having a very good first season of football.  While they weren’t undefeated, they lost the three games before Lexa became the starting quarterback, Lexa had managed to lead them to the regional championships.  She scored four touchdowns herself, when her receivers couldn’t get clear, Lexa would make a run for it.  She wasn’t the fastest person she knew, Lincoln often outran her in a foot race and that one time Clarke had tackled her, but on a field full of boys weighed down by pads, Lexa was a combination ballerina and world class sprinter.

The Warriors had pushed their way through the tournament to the championship game to face the Azgeda Icemen.  Their coach, Nia Queen, was a woman.  Lexa didn’t like to think in such gender conforming terms, but she was the only female coach in the region.  She screamed a lot, too.  Not shouting encouragement and cheering, angry screaming.  She even did it off the field.  Both teams had ended up at the same pizza place for a celebratory dinner the night before.  Lexa found her unpleasant.  Her son, Roan, was the quarterback, her spoiled brat daughter, Ontari (who didn’t play, she only acted as an anti-cheerleader), screamed at the team, the waitstaff, and anybody else who didn’t immediately bow to her every whim.  She also shouted insults at the Warriors as they left the restaurant.

The Warriors were gathering for the huddle.  Anya had done Lexa’s eye black and streaked it down her cheeks like tears.  Anya said it made her look fierce.  Lexa was pretty sure Anya was messing with her.

“Awesome eye black, Lex!”  One of the defensive linemen shouted.

“I’m going to make mine a superhero mask next game!”  A guard agreed.

“Has anyone seen my playbook?”  Coach Barnes was asking.

“Don’t worry about it, Coach, we know the plays,” Cal said.

“Ok.  I just want to say that you guys …”

“And Lexa!” the fullback, Jaxon, interjected.

“... and Lexa,” Coach continued.  “Have had a great season.  Even if we lose today, you guys …”

“And Lexa!”  Cal interjected.

“... and Lexa,” the coach had gotten used to this, “are champions.  Let’s get out there and play another great game.  On three.”

“One, two, three, Warriors!”

On the line of scrimmage.  Snap.  Drop Back. Pain.  Darkness.

“Lex!”  Lincoln was kneeling above her.

“Ow.”

Coach Barnes and an EMT dropped to their knees beside her.  She answered yes or no to their questions.  She had gotten the wind knocked out of her, but no serious injury.  The Azgeda player was flagged, but still on the field.

“I’m sorry Lexa, he just went right over the top of me,” Cal said as they lined back up.

“Plan X,” Lexa told him

Cal nodded.

She signaled the new play.

Snap, Lexa dropped back and ran to the left.  WHAM!  The Azgeda player charged her like he knew where she would be.

Lexa laid on the ground and contemplated her place in the universe.

Back on the line of scrimmage. Third and ten.  She signaled the play.  Linc looked at her worried.  Cal snarled at the linebacker in front of him.  Snap.  Lexa dropped back and handed the ball to the fullback, Jaxon.

WHAM!

 _What the hell?!_ Sacked again!

Jaxon managed to tear up the ten yards needed for a down.  He did the last two with an Azgeda player dragging on the waistband of his uniform pants.  Another Azgeda penalty.

Coach Barnes was on the sidelines shouting at the refs to do something.

Three more plays, fourth and seven.  Lexa had been sacked two more times.  She was tired and ached all over.  She hadn’t been sacked this many times in a game all season.  Snap.  Lexa just blew off the play and ran for it.  She took off to the right, fewer hits came from the right.  She dodged a lineman and ducked the cornerback before she broke free and ran forty yards into the end zone.  She just collapsed in the end zone, tired and achy.  Lincoln and the wide receivers came to pick her up and pat her on the helmet and back.

“You okay, Lex?”  Linc asked.

“Hurts.”

“What hurts?”

“Everything.”  The rest of the offensive line arrived to pat her head and drag her off the field.  They tried to carry her off the first time she ran a touchdown and it went badly, now they just pulled her off the field shouting war cries.

\-------

The defense failed to stop Roan and a corner back got face masked for his troubles.  On the turnover, Lexa got sacked twice and then threw her first ever interception.  It was too perfect.  The Azgeda defense seemed to know where Lexa was going to be or going to throw every single play.  If she got the ball to Lincoln, they buried him.  If she threw to a wide receiver he was too covered to catch the ball.  Jaxon could push through, but never very far.  Any ground they gained they lost again when the linemen sacked Lexa when she fell back to throw.

“They’re cheating somehow!”  Gus was shouting.

“I couldn’t find my playbook at the huddle.”

Gus demanded the refs search the Azgeda sideline for the missing playbook.  Even they thought the Azgeda teams amazing ability to stop every play was awfully suspicious.  Nothing.

\------

The Warriors lost, 18 - 6.  Lexa was bruised everywhere.  Lincoln was in only slightly better condition.

Gus treated the Woods Clan to ice cream to drown their sorrows.

Lexa called Clarke and railed against ‘those cheating bastards.’

\------

**Halloween 2001**

Still stiff with now yellowed bruises, Lexa and Linc prepared to go trick or treating.  Gus was going to take them over to Georgetown on the Metro.  

Lexa was Princess Leia, complete with cinnamon bun hair.  Indra spent an hour trying to get her curls smoothed out enough to make the buns.  Lincoln was Luke Skywalker in his Tatooine costume.  Gus consented to be Darth Vader as long as he got to carry a lightsaber and try to turn people to the dark side.

The computer chimed.  Lexa ran over to check her email where Clarke sent a photo of herself as a blond Han Solo and Jake as Chewbacca.  

Anya made fun of them for coordinating their costumes from a thousand miles away.  Lexa decided Anya was jealous and refused to share her spoils at the end of the night.  There might have been a you-suck-and-you-don’t-have-any-candy song and dance at the end of the night.  Anya also might have wedgied Lexa hard enough to tear another pair of underwear.

****

**Thanksgiving 2001**

Gus’ favorite holiday was Thanksgiving.  It wasn’t togetherness, it wasn’t that his beloved mother, Angela, came to visit.  It wasn’t even the turkey.  It was the pie.  Football and pie, two of Gus’ favorite things on one great day.  Gus didn’t just eat pie, he baked them, too.

The girls liked Thanksgiving, too.  Anya and Lexa were all in for Grandma’s dressing and the pies.  There was a bit of a somber note this year, they sat a place for Nyko even though he wouldn’t be coming.

Lincoln helped Gus with the turkey.  Anya helped with the pies.  Lexa was banned from the kitchen for excessive snacking.  She watched the game and IMed Clarke.

\------

In Metairie, Abby was at the hospital, Thanksgiving was always a busy day.  If it wasn’t an incident with the turkey fryer it was a family blow up.

Jake and Abby had spent the week prepping dishes and putting them in the freezer until it was time to put them in the oven.  Abby made a schedule.

Jake was splitting his time between putting things in the oven, pulling things out of the oven, and watching football with Clarke.

Clarke made regular trips to the office to check the messenger window and respond to Lexa.

Clarke wished Lexa was there to watch the game with her.

\------

Jake and Gus had coordinated to make a phone call during dessert.  Abby managed to get home to eat dinner with Jake and Clarke.  She was probably going to be called back though.  Clarke didn’t bother to ask why Jake brought the phone to the dining room table.  She wasn’t surprised when it rang while she was eyeballing the pumpkin pie and wondering just how much whipped cream was too much whipped cream.  She wasn’t even surprised when Jake put it on speaker phone and the Griffin’s and the Woods Clan shouted greetings to each other.

“Families,” Gus boomed.  “Before we all retire to doze in front of the television, we have an announcement.”

Clarke slipped a slice of pumpkin pie onto her dessert plate and began to heap whipped cream onto it.

“Clarke!”  Abby admonished.

“What did she do?”  Anya asked.

“Liking whipped cream is not a crime!”  Clarke retorted.

“Clarke, save some for me!”  Jake said.

“Anyway,” Gus regained everyone's attention.  “The Woods Clan will not be home for Christmas.  New Yorkers winter in Florida, Woods’ Christmas in New Orleans.  We’re flying out on the twenty-second and we’ll fly home on the second.”

“YAY!”  Clarke and Lexa cheered simultaneously despite being a thousand miles apart.

“What about Grandma?”  Linc asked.

“I’m going to the Bahama’s,” his grandmother replied.  "Even Atlanta isn't warm enough for these old bones."

****

**Early December 2001**

Lexa watches the Pee Wee Football National Championship in Orlando.  Lexa was stewing because the Warriors should be in Disney World, not those frozen cheats.  Linc refused to watch with her, he missed it when the announcement that the Azgeda Icemen had been disqualified for stealing an opponent’s playbook.

“I KNEW IT!”  Lexa shouted at the television.

“Knew what?”  Gus peeked around from the kitchen.

“Azgeda are cheating cheaters!”  She pointed to the scroll at the bottom of the screen.

****

**December 18, 2001**

Jake and Clarke have decided it was time to do their Christmas shopping.  They really can’t put it off any later, the Woods’ will be arriving on Saturday.  They are at the mall shopping and so far all they’ve gotten is irritated.  In a department store, Jake spies the ugliest red and blue checkered pants he has ever seen.

“Hey, Clarke, look!  Old guy pants!  Should I buy them for when I’m old?”

Clarke gives him the most disdainful look she can manage.

“Don’t you give me that look!  I will buy these hideous pants right now and wear them around this mall today!”

“I can’t believe I’m more embarrassed by that than you are.”

“Clarke, someday when you have kids of your own you’ll understand, embarrassing your kids is worth being embarrassed yourself.”

“Why are we even in this store, Dad?”

“To buy Gus the ugliest tie I can find.”

“Gus doesn’t wear ties to work, Dad.”

“I know!”

\------

An hour later Jake and Clarke were standing in a sports memorabilia shop in possession of the ugliest tie Clarke had ever seen.  Jake was gleeful at the ugliness of this brown and yellow monstrosity.

Jake picked up a Saints jersey.  

“Dad, Gus likes the Falcons.”  Jake smirked.  He also picked up a Los Angeles Sparks Lisa Leslie jersey for Anya.  

“How do you even know Anya likes the Sparks?”

“Because unlike you, I talk to Anya.”

Clarke gives him a disbelieving look.  “When?”

“We talked about sports most evenings at the cabin while you and Lexa were wrapped around each other.”

“So you know Gus likes the Falcons and you’re purposely buying him a jersey for their rivals?”

“Now you’re getting it,” Jake grinned.  “Come on, I want to pick your mother up something in a precious stone.”  

While they were at the jewelry store, Clarke picked out a simple stainless steel band with a star on it for Lexa.  “Are you trying to get me to pick up the tab for your engagement ring?”  Jake teased.

“I’ll buy that myself when I’ve graduated from college.”

“Oh, you will?”

Clarke nodded decisively. **  
**

 

 


	9. Holidays 2001:  Part Two

**December 22, 2001**

Clarke really wanted to meet the Woods’ at the airport.  Abby said it wasn’t necessary because Gus planned to rent a Tahoe so there would be room for everyone when they went out as a group.

Clarke hates being told what she wants is impractical.  And what she really, _really_ , wants is to see Lexa as soon as possible.

“Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaddd!”  Clarke whined over her breakfast.

“Claaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrke!”  He whined back.

Abby was catching a few hours of sleep before the Woods’ arrived.  She had a long night at the hospital and had gotten home around 8:30 this morning.

“I want to see Lexaaaaaaaaa!”

“She’ll be here in two and a half hours, Clarke.”

“If we go to the airport, I can see her in two.”

“Clarke, you’re being ridiculous.”

“I’m nine and it’s Christmas, ridiculous is my job.”

Jake shot her a look.

“We can run over to that bakery you like and get an Italian Wedding Cake.”

“Marigny is in the opposite direction of the airport.”

“I didn’t say it was on the way, I just thought you’d like some cake.”

Jake cocked his head at his daughter.  “Are you trying to bribe me into going to the airport with a cake **I** have to buy?”

“How could it possibly be a bribe, Dad?”

“Clarke, you scare me sometimes.”

“But do you want the cake?”

Jake sighed.  “Go get ready.  We’ll go meet your girlfriend at the airport.”

****

\------

****

Clarke and Jake went as far into the airport as security would allow and still be able to meet the Woods’.  Clarke had convinced Jake to get a dozen chocolate croissants from the same bakery where Jake got his cake.  Both were still in the car in a cooler.

They checked the arrivals screens.  The flight from Reagan National was on time and should be landing in the next five minutes.  Clarke’s body hummed with excitement.  She looked around, straining to find a window facing the runways.  

“Clarke,” Jake got her attention.  He pointed to the screen that now read On Ground instead of On Time.

The humming in Clarke crescendoed into a wave of emotion that swelled in her chest threatening to explode.  She hadn’t seen Lexa in six months, they talked online every day.  They talked on the phone once a week.  More if it was a bad week.

“Clarke?”  Clarke looked at her father who had concern in his eyes.  “Are you okay?”

Clarke didn’t trust herself not to cry so she just nodded.

“Sweetheart, you’re shaking.”

Clarke nodded again.

“Are you afraid Lexa won’t like you anymore again?”

Clarke shook her head no.

“Ah.  We’re at ‘so excited you’re going to cry’.”

Clarke nodded and fought to hold back tears.

It had happened before.  In the spring, Clarke had worked herself up so much to see Cinderella again that she cried on the shuttle bus from the airport to the resort.  When Clarke was turning four she became obsessed with pandas, Jake and Abby took her to the Memphis Zoo to see the pandas.  Clarke cried in the parking lot.  Jake thought about that trip for a moment.  They had stayed at the Peabody so Clarke could see the march of the ducks.  On Saturday they went to the zoo, on Sunday they went to Mud Island (Jake liked river boats, he would have to to have spent sixteen years in New Orleans).  When Clarke teared up at the Panda exhibit a small boy patted her and told her not to cry, he had big green eyes.  Or did he?  Jake tried very hard to recall the face of the boy or his mother.  Wasn’t there an older girl child with them?  There were pictures, Jake remembered Abby taking lots of pictures.

Clarke tugged on his sleeve.

“Hmmm,” Jake was still trying hard to recall the faces of the other family in the Panda pavilion at the Memphis Zoo that day.  Didn’t the mother have long curly hair?  Was there a second child, she was older, very excited about bamboo?

Clarke tugged harder and then ran off.  Jake focused on the airport around him and saw Clarke sprinting to Lexa who was looking up at the windows and didn’t notice the blonde barreling towards her.

Gus did, he was grinning.

Lexa was entranced by all of the light.  It was overcast and grey when they left D.C.  Now it was bright and clear.  Then it was blonde as she was tackled by the person she most wanted to see in the world.  Lexa managed to keep her feet, Clarke was smaller than the people Lexa was used to tackling her.  She wrapped her arms around the blonde, who had buried her face in Lexa’s neck.  Lexa felt Clarke shaking and then felt wetness on her neck.  “I missed you, too,” she whispered into Clarke’s hair.  Clarke cried harder for a moment.  Lexa held her tighter.

It must be an adorable sight to see an eight and nine year old clinging to each other in an airport, because people smile as they pass.

Jake made his way over to the Woods Clan and shook Gus’ hand.  Indra hugged him and Anya accepted his dorky dad high five.  Lincoln stood off to the side slightly.  He felt a little out of place in this family moment.  “Who’s this strapping young fellow?”

Lincoln was far from strapping, he was tall and skinny like the Woods girls.  Gus was large and muscular, Nyko had been too.  Someday, Lincoln would be strapping, that day was not this one.

“This is Lincoln Woods, my nephew,” Gus introduced.  “Lincoln, this is Jake Griffin, the strange little girl clinging to your cousin is Clarke.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Lincoln,” Jake greeted.  “Welcome to NOLA.”

“I thought you weren’t meeting us” Gus said.  Jake motioned to Clarke who still had her face buried in Lexa’s neck while Lexa held her.  She was shaking less now.

“Ah,” Gus nodded.

“When’s lunch?”  Anya demanded.  “Somebody told me the food in this town is really good.”

“Clarke, get off Lexa so we can get Anya a po’boy,” Jake called.

\------

After lunch the group arrived at the Griffin house.  Gus had rented a Tahoe big enough to move them all around the city as a group, but Lexa had ridden with Jake and Clarke to the restaurant.  Lexa had also ridden to the house with Jake and Clarke.  The girls were in the back seat together as wrapped around each other as their seatbelts would allow.

When they piled into the house loaded down with bags, except for Lexa, who was loaded down with Clarke, Abby was waiting for them in the kitchen.

“Abby!”  Gus shouted as he dropped the bags he was carrying and hugged the doctor.

Anya went in for a hug next.  Then Indra.

“This must be Lincoln,” Abby said taking in the boy.  “He’s awfully skinny, do you feed him?”

“He and Anya just split both a roast beef with gravy and a shrimp po’boy.  He eats,” Jake grinned while Lincoln looked sheepish.

Jake handed Abby the muffaletta he had ordered for her to go.  “And this is why you’re not in trouble,” she said.

“He will be when you see the cake and chocolate croissants,” Indra told her.  

“Jake!”

“Clarke manipulated me!”

“She’s nine, Jake!  You’re the adult.”

“Then I made an adult decision to have some Italian wedding cake.”

“Did somebody say cake?”  Anya and Linc were suddenly very interested in the conversation.

“Anya, there is no way you could add cake on top of those sandwiches and a bowl of gumbo,” Indra said.

“I am a growing teenager and the food was too good to let it go to waste.”  Anya belched impressively.  “I’m good to go.”

Indra gave her a look that would cause lesser teens to cower in fear.

“Excuse me,” Anya conceded.

****

\------

****

In the hullaballoo, nobody noticed Clarke and Lexa heading up the stairs with Lexa’s suitcase and the box of chocolate croissants.

The box of croissants were dropped on Clarke’s cluttered desk, Lexa’s suitcase was tossed on Clarke’s bed.  Lexa looked around the room.  There were superhero posters, a poster of Monet’s Water Lily Pond, a poster of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and Clarke’s own drawings on the walls.  Lexa noted that many of Clarke’s drawings featured someone that bore a strong resemblance to herself, long curly brown hair and green eyes.

There was box full of Lego’s in the corner.  On a corkboard over the desk there were several photos, most of them of Clarke and Lexa.  There was one with an Asian boy and a sandy haired girl at what appears to be a birthday party for the boy.

“This one is my favorite,” Clarke pointed at a photo of the two of them laying on the dock at the cabin.  Clarke had her head on Lexa’s stomach, dozing, Lexa was looking down at her like she was the most precious thing in the world.  It had obviously been snapped without their knowledge.

“I like it,” Lexa told her.  Clarke was pretty sure she didn’t just mean the picture.

****

\------

****

An hour later, Anya found them curled up together on Clarke’s bed, asleep.

****

\------

****

Jake waited until things had settled down a little and went to the cabinet where Abby stored the photo albums.  He found the one he was looking for and started flipping through it.  He slowed down when he got to the section with the Memphis trip.  He flipped to the panda exhibit, grinning at his excitable four year old.  And there it was, a photo of Clarke crying with a little boy looking over at her deeply concerned.  He’d know those green eyes anywhere, though.  He looked through the rest of the Panda area pictures and saw what he was looking for, this must be Roma.  Lexa looked very much like her, same hair and eyes.  A much younger Anya was in the background of another shot being very excited about a panda eating bamboo.  It was little Anya’s cheekbones that did more to solidify what he was seeing than anything else.

He carried the photo album into the kitchen where Indra, Abby, and Gus were chatting.  He sat the album in front of his wife open to the pages with the two photos.  Abby glanced down.  “What’s this?”

“Look,” he told her.

“Oh,” she said spotting Lexa’s green eyes looking at Clarke with concern.  Looking at the other photos she saw little Anya.  “Oh.”

“What?”  Gus asked.

Abby slid the photo album over to him.  “It’s the Memphis Zoo,” he said.  Then he paused.  “That’s my baby,” he said softly.

“What?”  Indra came around to stand behind him.  “Oh!”  Indra had never seen a picture of Alexander.  Gus and Roma had carefully removed any photos that obviously depicted Lexa as a boy from sight.  “Those big green eyes.”

“Sometimes, when Clarke gets very excited about something, her emotions overwhelm her and she cries,” Jake explained.  “Today, when we got to the airport, Clarke was really excited to see Lexa and trying not to cry.  It doesn’t happen often and I thought about some other times it’s happened and I remembered the Pandas in Memphis when Clarke was four.  There was a very sweet little boy who told her not to cry and a woman, with long curly hair like Lexa’s.  I thought maybe I was just making associations, so I looked in the photo album.”  He pointed at an uncharacteristically happy Anya in the background of a shot.  “I wasn’t positive until I saw Anya.”

They all just stared at the photos, gobsmacked by the coincidence.

“What are you people so obsessed with?”  Anya asked walking into the room working on a pilfered chocolate croissant.

“How cute you were!”  Jake teases.

“What?!”

“Come here, Stretch,” Gus called.  She did and he put his arm around her and pointed at the photo album.  “It’s the China pavilion at the zoo.   Hey, that’s Lex. . . is that  . . . Clarke?”  She looked at the other photos in the spread.  “That’s Mom!”  She didn’t mean to sound so excited, it didn’t match well with her badass persona.  

“Now that sounds like the Anya in this picture,” Jake pointed.

“Oh my God!”  Anya exclaimed.  She looked at the pictures some more.  “What are the odds?  Lexa loved the Pandas, remember Dad.  Not as much as she loved the Red Pandas, though.  Mom had to take her to the zoo every week.”

“Clarke never mentioned Lexa’s love of all things panda,” Jake noted.

“She probably doesn’t know.  Lexa didn’t want to go without Mom,” Anya popped the last of the croissant into her mouth.

“We’ve been in DC for five years and have never gone to the National Zoo,” Gus added.

“I planned to go to Audubon Park while you’re here.  Should we skip the zoo?”  Abby asked.

There was a long silence.

Indra decided to address the elephant in the room.  “Are we going to show the girls?”

“Show us what?”  Clarke asked from the doorway.

The attention in the room shifted from the photo album on the table to the two girls in the doorway in portable cuddle mode, looking suspicious.

The adults all exchanged glances while Anya just looked uncomfortable.

Lexa looked curious, Clarke looked annoyed.

Jake reached across the table and slid the photo album in front of his seat.  “Come see.”

Clarke tugged Lexa along with her.  Lexa seemed less eager, sensing something in Anya’s discomfort.  Jake pulled Clarke into his lap so Lexa could be closer to the table.  

“Pandas!”  Clarke exclaimed.  Lexa looked nervous.  Jake tilted the photo album so Lexa could get a better look for her position next to Jake.

“Don’t show Lexa pictures of me crying.  Why do we have these?”

Lexa looked like she saw a ghost.  She kind of did.  Her eye caught first, not on the picture of Clarke crying, but the one of happy Clarke with Roma in the background.  “Tha- that’s my Mom.”  Then Lexa’s eye found Anya.  The corners of her mouth turned up in a small grin.  Then her eye found big green eyes looking at Clarke with concern.  

Lexa had so many different thoughts and feelings that she just shut down.  Clarke was looking at the big green eyes on the little boy in the photo.  She knew those eyes as well as she knew her Dad’s blue eyes.  She reached for Lexa, who didn’t reach back.  Clarke turned her head and saw Lexa blankly staring at the floor.  Clarke slid off of her father’s lap and wrapped her arms around Lexa.  Lexa’s arms did not automatically come up to wrap around Clarke.  Clarke was not to be deterred.

“When people ask, we’re telling them we met at Disney World,” Clarke told her.

Slowly, Lexa’s arms came up to wrap around Clarke.  She nuzzled her face in Clarke’s blonde waves.  After a moment she lifted her head and sniffed.  Signs of tears were on her cheeks.  She looked at Gus and with a perfectly steady voice said, “When Clarke comes to see us in DC, can we go see the pandas?”

Anya let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Of course we can, Monkey.”

Clarke released Lexa long enough to pull the picture with Roma out of the photo album.  She held it up next to Lexa.  “You look just like her.”

Anya and Gus nodded.  Gus might have been holding back a tear whether it was for Lexa or Roma, even Gus couldn’t be sure.

****

\------

****

The rest of the day was the whole household in lethargic koala mode, led by Clarke.  The kids laid in the den floor watching movies, _Shrek_ , _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ (“This one sucks, can’t we just watch the cartoon?”  Clarke groaned.), and after a long argument about what was appropriate for Christmas family viewing, the original _Star Wars Trilogy_ on VHS.  In the years to come, Clarke, Lexa, and Lincoln would make the original _Star Wars Trilogy_ the standard movie marathon for the Christmas holidays.

Anya claimed the couch when the Star Wars theme started playing.  Clarke spooned Lexa on the floor.  Linc found Jake’s video game chair (Jake claimed he bought it for Clarke, but she never used it), popcorn magically appeared, so did Gus and Jake who took the chairs on either side of the sofa.

Sometime during _The Empire Strikes Back_ , Abby insisted they eat something besides popcorn and dry cereal (Linc found a box of Cap’n Crunch in the pantry).  Jake ordered pizzas.  They arrived about the time the credits rolled.

They ate pizza and disagreed vehemently about Ewoks until Leia killed Jabba on the sailbarge.  Jake, Gus, and Anya hated the ewoks.  Lexa and Lincoln were pro-ewok.  Clarke declared them cute tear fodder.

“Come again, blondie,” Anya said.

“They’re only there so the Empire can kill off some good guys without risking the main characters.  It’s emotionally manipulative.”

“Manipulative is a big word for a third grader,” Gus observed.

“Dad calls me manipulative a lot,” Clarke told him.

“Speaking of, who want’s cake?”  Jake jumped up.

He got a “Me!” from Anya, a “right here,” from Linc, a “please” from Lexa, and a “Insert cake here,” from Clarke.

****

\------

****

**December 23, 2001**

Sunday morning Abby got every one up and told them to dress in their Sunday best.  Lexa was in bed with Clarke curled around each other.  Gus and Indra were in the guest room.  Lincoln was on the the pull out in the living room.  Anya was asleep on the pull out in the den.

“Abby, I can’t go to church,” Anya said seriously.  “I’ve been thrown out of the National Cathedral.”

“We’re not going to church, we’re going for brunch in the Garden District, but it’s dressy . . .” Abby paused.  “Did you say you were kicked out of the National Cathedral?”

“It’s a long story,” Anya said seriously.

“So, after brunch then?”

“That’s probably best.”

****

\------

****

Anya had a problem with authority.  She was always headstrong and willful, but after Lexa came along and started showing dysphoria symptoms, Anya became downright oppositional.

In the first year after Roma died, Lexa had occasional outbursts.  Usually, Anya could get her calmed down if Gus couldn’t.  They had gone to the National Cathedral (“Did you know there is a Darth Vader sculpture on the cathedral?” Anya asked Abby.  “I did not,” she replied.) for the Easter service the first Easter after Roma had died.  

Among other things, little Lexa did not like crowds nor did she like to be touched.  A pretty little girl in a dress always garners a lot of attention on Easter Sunday.  The more people that passed by and said “Oh, what a precious little girl,” while trying to pinch her chubby little cheeks or touch her magnificent curls, the more nervous little Lexa got.  Lexa started taking a step back whenever people passed by.  Before long, Anya started getting surly.  

A Park Service employee passed by and remarked how adorable Lexa was and Anya had enough.  She jumped up on the pew and shouted, “Touch my sister and I will punch you in the face.”

Gus tried to stop her, he tried to pull her down, with Lexa between them he couldn’t get a grip on her without squishing his youngest.

“Young lady,” the NPS woman admonished.  “This is a house of worship!”

“Then you better pray no one else tries to touch my baby sister!”

“I think you should leave now,” the Park Service woman said.

\------

“And that was the first time I got kicked out of the National Cathedral,”  Anya bragged.

“You’ve been kicked out of the National Cathedral more than once?”  Abby asked.

Anya nodded.

  



	10. Holidays 2001: Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short one with time jumps.

**December 24, 2001**

Lexa woke up with Clarke’s hair in her face.  Clarke’s back was pressed to her front, her arm was around Clarke’s waist.  Lexa felt good.  She felt good because she was with Clarke.  She never felt incomplete without Clarke, but when she was with Clarke she felt  _ strong _ .  Lexa nuzzled the back of Clarke’s head, the blonde giggled.

“Good morning, Clarke.”

“Good morning, Lexa.”

“We met at the Memphis Zoo,” Lexa said into the back of Clarke’s head.  

“And the universe wanted us to know each other so badly that we met again four years later in Fantasyland,” Clarke added.

“Yeah,” Lexa breathed.

“Are you okay, Lexa?”

“I think so,” she whispered.

“If you need to talk . . .”

“I know, Clarke.  I just can’t think of anything to say.”  The truth was, that even as advanced and well read as Lexa was, that at eight years old she lacked the intellectual and emotional capacity to express that her body and her past were less dismaying when it came to Clarke.  It wasn’t that they ceased to be a crippling curse, it was that when Clarke was with her they became merely an annoying misfortune.  The universe had spoken and Lexa was just along for the ride.

****

\--------

****

Cookies were baked and consumed.  Lincoln had a sugar rush going and in order to wear him down, Jake called for a Griffins vs Woods touch football game.  After a long argument over which Woods played with the Griffins to even up the teams, Clarke played the ‘I’m going to marry Lexa card’ and Lexa played with the Griffins.

It was all good to have a great eight year old quarterback, but the only person who could catch her passes with any kind of consistency was on the opposing team.  The game turned into a barely regulated game of ‘dog pile on the person with the ball’.  The final score was Lexa Sucks to Lincoln Can’t Tie His Own Shoes.  Nobody seemed to know exactly how that figured into a score and everyone thought that their team had won.

Back inside the Griffin home Abby and Gus decided to start working on the pies.  Gus shared his mother’s crust recipe and secrets, Abby shared a pecan pie trick she had picked up over sixteen years in South Louisiana.  

Lincoln, Lexa, and Clarke were banished from the kitchen for sticking dirty kid fingers into pie fillings.  They ended up in the den playing Clue where accusations became increasingly dramatic.  “It was YOU!” Lincoln shouted, pointing the tiny little lead pipe at Clarke.  “You murdered that poor innocent man in COLD BLOOD!!!”  Lincoln gesticulated wildly.  “With this lead pipe!”  He shoved it under her nose.  “IN . . . the conservatory!”  He finished with a flourish.

Lexa looked through her cards, “I’ve got nothing.”

Clarke looked through her cards and shrugged.

Lincoln picked up the envelope that held the evidence cards and pulled them out one at a time, shouting out what was on the card and throwing it dramatically onto the board.  “CONSERVATORY!  MRS. PEACOCK!  LEAD PIPE!  TAKE HER AWAY!!!”

“I don’t think I want to play Clue with you anymore,” Clarke deadpanned.  

****

\------

****

It had gotten late into the evening, while none of the kids were expecting a jolly fat man in a red suit, the grown ups needed time to retrieve hidden presents and get them under the tree and then maybe a few drinks because Clarke, Lexa, and Lincoln together were kind of a handful.  Mostly Clarke and Lincoln, Lexa was generally a quiet and helpful child.  


“I’m busy crushing Lincoln!”  Clarke shouted when Jake called from the kitchen for them to get ready for bed.  She then dropped the third Draw Four in a row on Lincoln.

“Clarke!”  Abby said sharply from the doorway.

Clarke dropped her Uno cards, ran over to kiss Abby goodnight and shot up the stairs.

“Now that was impressive,” Gus said.

****

\------

****

**December 25, 2001**

Even Christmas morning wasn’t a good enough reason for Clarke to want to release Lexa and leave the warm bed.

Green opened to blue.  “Merry Christmas, Clarke.”

“Merry Christmas, Lexa,” Clarke smiled  

Linc burst through the door and jumped on the bed.  “Isn’t that Anya’s move?”

Lexa shrugged.

“It’s CHRISTMASSSSSSSSS!”  Linc shouted and wriggled on the bed.

“Are you having a seizure?  Oh my God, get out!”  Clarke shoved and kicked at Linc.

The door swung open again, “Boom, baby!”  Anya stood in the doorway.

“Great now Kuzco’s here,” Clarke groaned.  “Okay, we’re getting up!”

****

\------

****

When Clarke and Lexa made it downstairs Jake already had the _A Christmas Story_ marathon on the television and Lincoln had already divided the presents into piles. 

The next hour was a frenzy of torn paper, squeals, giggles, and a pair of insulted groans.

“You got me a Falcons jersey, that’s just rude Gus.”

“You got me a Saints jersey!”  Gus replied.

“That is the ugliest tie I have ever seen,” Indra remarked.

“It’s got nothing on that scarf.  I think Gus beat you at your game, Dad.”

“Lisa Leslie!”  Anya squeaked.  


“GAME CUBE!”  Clarke shouted gleefully.

“Ahn, Lex, Linc,” Indra addressed.  “You’ve got one at home, too.  We didn’t feel the need to bring a second console when we knew Clarke was getting the same thing.”

“Super Monkey Ball?”  Clarke looked at the game with skepticism.

“You’re going to love it,” Jake told her.

“You couldn’t tell me to open this first so I could have gotten the look on Anya’s face when she opened the Sparks jersey?”  Gus asked Indra holding up his new Digital8 video camera.

“Oh my God, Abs!  How did you get these?”  Jake was holding two tickets to Super Bowl 36 at the Superdome.

“I’ve had them since February,” Abby told him.

Lincoln was looking for somewhere to plug in his new Game Boy Advance.

Lexa was looking at a leather bound book with gold foil letters that she had gotten from Jake.  “Those got me through high school and college,” he told her.

“ _ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy _ ?”  She read the cover.

“It should say ‘Don’t Panic’.  I think the publisher made a mistake in not having it say ‘Don’t Panic’.”

\------

By the time dinner time came, Lincoln had already worn the battery down on his Advance and the piles of toys, clothes, and electronics had been put away.  Clarke, Lexa, and Anya had been playing Super Monkey Ball for hours totally ignoring the other two games she had gotten, Luigi’s Mansion and Rogue Squadron II.  Lincoln was waiting for the current game to end so he could get in on a round.

\------

After dinner the kids went back to Super Monkey Ball.  Anya was the reigning champion.

\------

Clarke and Lexa waited to exchange gifts until bedtime so they could be alone.  Clarke was never shy about anything, but Lexa was and Clarke liked keeping the private moments with Lexa private.  She handed the brunette the tiny ring box.  Lexa smiled and handed Clarke a tiny wrapped ring box.

Lexa teared up when she saw the little star.  

Clarke opened her box and saw a ring that looked like woven vines.  “I love it, Lex.”

“I love mine, too.”

\------

****

The days that followed would be some of Lexa’s favorite memories.  There were trips to the Aquarium of the Americas and walks through the French Quarter in portable cuddle mode.  Linc developed a morbid fascination with the voodoo shops and museums.  Lexa developed a liking for jazz and zydeco.  Anya declared Creole food to be better than most barbecue, just not Memphis barbecue.  She did seem to have developed a particular liking for crawfish.

An ill advised trip out to Grand Isle to fish led to landing a bull redfish too big to bring home with the available equipment.  When Abby saw the same twinkle in Gus’s eye that had led to the Fish Griller 6000 debacle, she cut the line releasing the fish back into the Gulf.

Gus pouted all the way back to Metairie.  It was too cold to even walk in the surf so Clarke and Lexa pouted, too.  

\------

**December 31, 2001**

The Griffin’s took the Woods’ to Jackson Square for music and fireworks for New Year’s Eve.  Clarke and Lexa exchanged a peck on the lips at midnight and fell asleep in the car on the way back to the Griffin’s.

\------

**January 2, 2002**

The Woods’ and the Griffin’s said goodbye in the airport terminal.

Clarke and Lexa were finding that the longer they knew each other, the harder it got to say goodbye when it was time for the other to go home.

“You’re coming to D.C. for spring break. That’s eleven weeks, Clarke,” Lexa soothed.  Lexa had gotten very good at controlling her emotions when it was time to separate.  Clarke needed her to be strong, so she was.

Clarke was crying into Lexa’s neck.  “Eleven weeks,” she repeated.

“And since Jake found that program that let’s gamers talk to each other while they play, we can talk every night,” Lexa told her.

Clarke nodded and wiped snot on Lexa’s shirt.

“I have to fly home with your snot on me.”

“Something to remember me by,” Clarke giggled.

“I love you, Clarke.”

“I love you, Lexa.”

“I’ll see you soon,” Lexa kissed her forehead.  Clarke nodded and released Lexa to join the rest of the Woods Clan.  

Lexa cried those fat silent tears all the way through the airport.  A gate agent asked if she was being held against her will.  Anya laughed so hard she snorted.

\---------

**March 2002**

The Griffin’s arrive at the Woods Clan stronghold.  Lincoln was displaced to the sofa, on the upside, he could watch television all night.

Clarke settled into Lexa’s room.  It was light blue with posters of galaxies and nebulae.  Lexa’s favorite picture from Disney World, both families at the Muppets fountain, was blown up to 8 x 10 and in a frame by her bed.  

Between museums, Clarke drew Lexa several pictures to add to her walls.

Lexa and Clarke went to see the pandas at the National Zoo together.

In the Aerospace Museum, Lexa’s fascination with all things space was on full display.  She had been there enough times that she acted as a tour guide for the Griffins.  Jake started calling her Commander Woods, he found her an Air Force flight suit at an Army Navy store before they left the city.  He had Commander Woods name patches made for her.

\--------

**Summer 2002**

The Griffin’s and the Woods rent a condo in Orange Beach, Alabama.  Every morning the girls got up early to watch the dolphins in the Gulf.  Jake and Gus booked a fishing charter.  They finally had a successful fishing experience.  They caught several large tuna and a few red snapper.  Even Lincoln hauled in a few snapper.  

Clarke and Lexa watched the dolphins.

\------

They talked every day, the internet made it easy.  They spent Christmas, Spring Break, and two weeks of Summer together every year.  The locations shifted, one year it was Spring Break and Christmas in DC and the next year both in NOLA. 

In the summer of 2003, they went to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

In the summer of 2004, they visited Seattle and Vancouver.

In the summer of 2005 they went to Maui.  It was Anya’s choice, she had graduated from high school as salutatorian and gotten a full ride to Tulane, she would be moving in August.  They rented a beach house, Anya only left the beach to eat.  Lexa collected lei's and flower crowns, she tried hibiscus everything.  Clarke chased a gecko through the entire beach house without breaking anything.  Lincoln discovered girls.  It was an eventful trip.  


 

 


	11. August 2005

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: Hurricane Katrina

**August 25, 2005**

****

“. . . Tropical Storm Katrina has formed a Category One hurricane …”

****

**August 27, 2005**

****

“. . . Hurricane Katrina has flooded Homestead, Florida with more than thirteen inches of rain. . .“

“. . . there is a major hurricane that is in the Gulf of Mexico . . .”

“Clarke, do you really need all of this?”  Jake was loading bags into the back of his Excursion.

“I don’t want it to get flooded!”  

“I’m sorry Clarke, we don’t have time for this.”  He opened a few bags, if it wasn’t clothes and toiletries he carried it back into the house and up the stairs.  He came across one full of photo albums and pictures.  He tossed it in the back of the truck.  “We’ve got to go, sweetheart.  Anya is waiting.”

“Is Mom going to be safe?”

“Can you think of a safer place to be than a hospital during a storm?”

“Washington D.C?”

“Yeah, and that’s where we’re going.  Did you lock the doors?”  Jake asked.

Clarke nodded.

“Get in the car, we have to go.”

The traffic to get across town was pretty awful.  They picked up Anya in front of her dorm, she had three bags to toss in the back.  Anya had just started her Freshman year at Tulane.  She had made an appearance at the Griffin dinner table both Sundays since she moved into the dorms and it wasn’t unusual for Clarke to get home from school and find Anya with her head in the fridge and a pile of books on the table.  She was the big sister Clarke never wanted.

“Who say’s you get shotgun?”  Anya said as she climbed in the back.

“I was here first,” Clarke smirked.

It took nearly an hour to get out of the New Orleans metro area and onto I-59.  They broke out of traffic sometime after 7PM with 16 hours worth of driving to go.  Jake’s co-workers were fleeing for Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee.  Tulane was evacuating students to Jackson State University in Natchez, Mississippi.  Jake figured if he had to be away from home for a week, he would spend it with family and Gus had been adamant after reading reports that he wanted Anya as far away from New Orleans as possible.

Jake and Gus had been talking daily since the storm formed.  He wanted them to leave on Friday but had to wait for Tulane to release the students.

The three of them chatted about nothing until they stopped to fill up the gas tank in Hattiesburg, Mississippi where they loaded up on snacks. Once back on the road they played the License Plate game until they realized that it wouldn’t be anything but Louisiana and Mississippi fleeing the storm until they got further north.  

Anya fell asleep not long after they left Hattiesburg.  The hurricane parties on campus and in the city were too much fun to pass up on Friday night.  She also knew that if she got some sleep now, she could take over for Jake in a few hours.

Clarke fell asleep in the passenger seat a few miles northeast of Tuscaloosa, she stayed awake so she could shout “Geaux Tigers” out of the window, it was getting close to midnight.  By the time they made it to Birmingham she was snoring lightly and Jake was on his own.  He turned on the radio and immediately wished he knew where Clarke stowed her iPod.  He turned the radio back off and dug around in the console for some Hendrix.

Abby called as they got into Knoxville, TN.  Jake had pulled off into a truck stop and filled the tank.  “Hey, beautiful,” Jake said answering his phone and sliding out of the driver’s seat.

“Hey there, handsome.  How’s the road?”

“It took an hour to get out of the city.  We just pulled into Knoxville.”

“How are Clarke and Anya?”

“Anya fell asleep just out of Hattiesburg.  Clarke fell asleep after antagonizing the entire city of Tuscaloosa,” Jake grinned.

“She gets that from you.”

“I know.  We’re just going to push on through to D.C., Anya wanted me to wake her up when I got tired to take a shift.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”  Abby worried.

“If we’re both too tired to drive, I’ll stop somewhere.  How’s the hospital?”

“A lot of car accidents and storm prep,” Jake could hear the PA in the background.  “I’ve got to go, hon.  I’ll call and check on you when I can.  I love you.”

“I love you too, Abs.”

Jake poured two cups of coffee and loaded up more snacks.  Clarke was asleep with her face pressed against the glass.  He unlocked the passenger side and pushed her back into the seat and lowered the back slowly.  Clarke didn’t even flutter.  Anya had managed a pretty impressive sprawl in the backseat.

Jake got back on the road, it was 5:30AM EDT, he switched out Hendrix for Stevie Ray Vaughn.  Seven hours to go.

\------

**August 28, 2005**

Clarke woke up at 9:30AM, she growled at the sunlight.

“Good morning, Princess,” Anya taunted from the driver’s seat.

Clarke looked around and saw Jake asleep across the backseat.  “I’m hungry.”

“Of course you are,” they were coming up on Harrisonburg, Virginia.  Anya pulled off and found a diner for breakfast.

An hour later they were back on the road, Clarke fished out her iPod and plugged it into the Excursions stereo.  She started up the classic rock playlist, The Who started playing and they sang along.

They turned down the Woods’ District of Columbia street around 12:30PM.  Clarke had been texting Lexa all morning so Jake and Anya were unsurprised when she was waiting in the yard for them.  Anya didn’t have the key out of the ignition before Lexa pulled open the passenger door and Clarke jumped out onto her.

“LEXA!”  Clarke shouted.

“CLARKE!”  Lexa shouted.

“MUPPET!”  Jake shouted from the backseat.  Even at twelve, Lexa was still his Muppet Buddy.

“JAKE!”  Lexa shouted from the grass.

By the time the shouting ended, Gus, Indra, and Linc had come out to help carry in luggage.

“Blanco and Nagin made the evacuation order mandatory this morning,” Gus told Jake.  “I’m waiting on a phone call to see if I need to hop on a C-130 at Andrews.”  He hugged his oldest child, “I glad you’re home, Stretch.  Tulane announced this morning that the school is closed until at least the seventh.  They are sending evacuees home from Jackson State as long as they don’t live in Katrina’s path.”

Clarke and Lexa missed the whole exchange, they were rolling around in the grass of the Woods front yard.

“Clarke, get off Lexa and take your stuff inside,” Jake said.

\------

That evening, Clarke and Lexa were curled up in Lexa’s bed.  Her room had changed little since the first time Clarke was here in the spring of 2002.  The posters of stars and nebulae had been joined by more original Clarke Griffin pieces.  The stuffed raccoon Clarke had sent her for her 8th birthday was still on her bed.

“I need to tell you something,” Lexa said seriously.

Clarke started to worry, “What’s wrong, are you sick?  Did you get hurt at practice?”  She sat up and started to check Lexa over like she would find a bone sticking out.

“No, Clarke, it’s nothing like that.”

“Don’t scare me like that, Lex.”

“Clarke,” Lexa was very serious and honestly looked a little scared.  “I’m gay.”

“Oh my God, Lexa!”  Clarke hit her with the stuffed raccoon repeatedly.

“Ow, stop hitting me with Griff,” Lexa whined.  “This is serious, I just told you I’m gay.  I like girls!”

“I should hope so!” Clarke whacked her with the raccoon again before Lexa caught it and pried it loose.

“What does that mean, Clarke?”

“I was going to have a hard time marrying you if you were straight!”

“Clarke, I was seven,” Lexa said.

“Are you trying to break off our engagement?”  Clarke asked eyebrows raised.

“Are you serious?”

“Of course I’m serious, Lexa.  Do you think I just go around proposing to girls at Disney World all the time?”

“It would be really creepy if you did,” Lexa smirked.  “You really want to marry me someday?”

“Sometime before my twenty-eighth birthday, I think,” Clarke grinned.  “Certainly before you’re twenty-eight.  I want us to have all of our degrees done first and careers settled so we can immediately get to work on making gorgeous babies.”

“Is that so?  How many gorgeous babies?”  Lexa pulled Clarke back into a cuddle on the bed.

“At least two,” Clarke decided.  “I know you probably won’t be very fertile, if you even decide to keep Alex, so, I’m fine with adopting.  But sometimes, I think about how beautiful a little girl that was both you and me would be.  Your hair and skin with my eyes.”

Lexa hummed and kissed Clarke’s head.  “Clarke, are you gay, too?”

“I don’t know, really.”  Clarke said, she turned her face up to look at Lexa.  “I know that I like you and I think you’re really pretty and someday when we’re ready, I want to kiss you.”

“No rush, then?”  Lexa grinned.

“No rush.  I know that you have a lot to think about and work out, I want you to have all the time you need to do that.”

Lexa smiled and kissed Clarke’s nose.  Clarke tucked her head back under Lexa’s chin.  They fell asleep like that.  Both with thoughts of a future life with a happy home filled with little Clarkes and Lexas.

****

\------

****

**August 29, 2005**

Monday morning dawned in D.C. where they were safe and dry.  At home in NOLA, it was bad and getting worse.  Jake and Gus were glued to the news.

The fathers let the kids sleep.  The Woods kids could take a day off.

Gus’s phone rang around 8AM.  He called Indra, who had already left for work, kissed his kids, and left to catch a hop to Biloxi.

Anya came down the stairs around 9AM to find Jake sitting in front of the television.  She sat next to him and watched the devastation.

“Have you talked to Abby?”

“The power is out at the hospital but so far the generators are working.”

\-------

The news reports just kept getting worse.  At least three levees had failed.

Gus texted that he was on the ground in Biloxi and stuck there.  No one could figure out how to get into New Orleans with the flooding.

That evening Abby texted that the water had started flowing into the hospital.

\------

**August 30, 2005**

Things in New Orleans continue to get worse.  Clarke and Lexa spent their time curled up on the sofa watching the news.  Lexa didn’t go to school on Tuesday, either.  Jake worried.  Indra was spending most of her time in her office handling calls from Coast Guard personnel who needed assistance handling family, property, and financial matters in Louisiana and Mississippi while the HQ’s there were closed due to the flooding.   Anya became the designated grown up at the Woods house.  She made sure the Griffin’s ate and slept.  She made Lincoln go to school and bring Lexa's assignments.  There wasn’t much she could do about Jake, Clarke, and Lexa except try to make sure they ate.

The girls watched the city spiral out of control knowing that Gus was there trying to patch the broken levees and that Abby was in a hospital with no power in 100 degree heat with generators that were expected to fail soon.

\------

**August 31, 2005**

Anya made Lexa go to school.  There was a shouting match.  

Clarke and Jake sat on the sofa together, watching the looting and rescues.  Abby checked in as often as she could.  The hospital had no power and they turned a nearby parking deck into a helipad when the rescue helicopters couldn’t get to them.  They were moving critically ill patients down flights of stairs and through an above ground tunnel to load them into the helicopters, some had to be moved onto flatbed trucks and driven up to the top of the deck.  Snipers were taking pot shots at a neighboring hospital as they tried to evacuate.

New Orleans slipped into a post-apocalyptic nightmare.

\------

**September 1, 2005**

Jake was talking to Abby and not telling Clarke what was going on.  Clarke, knowing her father as she did, knew whatever was happening was bad.

Gus called and talked to his daughters and Lincoln in the morning and again in the evening.  They were watching the horrors in New Orleans on the evening news.

Indra started coming home in the evening again.

\------

**September 2, 2005**

The call came that Tulane cancelled the rest of fall semester.  The Medical School was moving to Baylor for the rest of the semester.  Abby was at Charity Hospital trying to help the patients still trapped there after they finished evacuating Tulane.

The military arrived to try to gain some semblance of control in the post-apocalyptic nightmare.

\------

In D.C., it was football game night.  In an attempt to get everybody's minds off of the horrors on the Gulf Coast, Indra, Anya, Jake, and Clarke went to watch Lexa and Lincoln play a little football.  The Panthers vs the Mount Weather Reapers.

On the field, Lexa was unsurprised to learn that Bellamy Blake was playing for Mount Weather.  Their quarterback was Cage Wallace, son of the Mount Weather head coach, who was a mediocre player on a good day.

“I’m coming for you, Woods!”  Blake was shouting from the defensive line.

Lexa signaled the play, the ball was snapped.  She looked for Linc and found him exactly where he was supposed to be.  She released the ball and saw it sailing through the air on target before Blake slammed into her.

Even she saw the flag.  Lincoln got 24 yards before the Reapers defense stopped him.

“Why don’t you go be a cheerleader?  Girls don’t belong on the field,” Blake told her as he got up.

Lexa got up waving off the help her team mates offered.  She looked to where her family usually sat.  While Gus wasn’t there, Jake and Clarke were.  Clarke was on her feet clearly shouting threats at the boy who tackled her.  Lexa felt a swooping in her chest.

Blake's foul gave them another 5 yards.  Lexa’s guards adjusted to keep Blake from getting through like that again.  

Snap.  Lexa finds a wide receiver wide open and the ball sails right into his hands.  He flies into the end zone.

“TOUCHDOWN, PANTHERS!”  

\------

In the third quarter things started getting tense, the Mount Weather team was less concerned with winning now (it was unlikely, the score was 36 - 6) and more concerned with trying to hurt the Panthers, particularly Lexa.

She handed the ball to the fullback and half a second later, Blake grabbed her face mask and threw her to the ground.

Flag.

“I want him off the field!” Coach Ryder was shouting.

“Lex, are you okay?”  Lincoln was bent over her.

“Given half a chance, I would cut him a thousand times until he either dies of shock or blood loss, I don’t care which,” Lexa muttered.

“That’s a little dark, Lex,” Lincoln said.  Lexa could actually hear Clarke shouting insults at the Mount Weather Coach for not pulling Blake off the field.

They lined back up and snapped the ball.  Lexa looked down the field and saw all of her receivers covered.  Lincoln was holding back a very determined Blake.  Lexa cradled the ball and made a run for it.

“GO, LEXA, GO!”  She could hear Clarke above the roar of the crowd.

Five yards, ten yards, fifteen yards, she juked and side stepped.  The quarterback left her pursuers behind and sped into the end zone after a 36 yard run.

“TOUCHDOWN, PANTHERS!”

\------

In the fourth quarter, Blake face masked her again.  This time he added a punch to the ribs.  The refs sent him off the field and told Dante Wallace if he walked on the field again, the Reapers would forfeit.

\------

The Panthers won, 50 - 9.  Clarke ran down to the field and threw her arms around Lexa.

“You were so awesome!  It’s even better live and in person!”  Clarke told her.

“Hey, hot stuff, why don’t you forget about Woods and come hang out with a man,” Blake shouted.

“Why don’t you fuck off,” Clarke replied.

“Oh, baby, I would love to fuck you.  You just name the place,” Blake smirked.

Clarke started getting that rage-y look that preceded a Hulk out.  “Okay, Clarke we’ve got to go.  If you start punching Blake you’ll keep going until you kill him.”

“He brings that out in people,” Lincoln added.

“That’s that Blake sack of shit?”  Clarke tried to squirm out of Lexa’s hold.  Lincoln grabbed her to reinforce Lexa’s hold and steered her off the field.

\------

**September 3, 2005**

The weekend passed with not much in the way of new information.  Gus was still working on patching up the 17th Street Canal.  The water was foul and temperatures were sweltering.

Clarke and Lexa spent the weekend curled up in Lexa’s bed waiting for something to change.

\------

**September 5, 2005**

The 17th Street Canal was repaired and immediately put in the use to drain the flooded city.

Abby had been working at the makeshift clinic in the Superdome since Tulane, Charity, and University hospitals were evacuated and staying in a hotel near the hospital.  

Gus made his way to the Griffin home for the first time.  He had gone uptown the night before to see Abby so that their families would get verification that both were safe and healthy.  While there, he had gotten Abby’s key.  Being in uniform, he could move around the still locked down cities.

The yard was still very soggy.  Gus parked his borrowed humvee in the drive and waded across the yard.  Honestly, it was nice to have the water not breach the top of his waterproof boots for once.  The water had obviously been in the garage, the porch looked pretty dry, showing very little sign of water damage.  He unlocked and pushed open the door with no difficulty.  The carpet was wet by the front door, but dried out a few inches into the foyer.  Gus walked through the first floor seeing no sign of water except for a few inches into each door.  Luckily the Griffin home was on a slight rise and built with a three foot crawlspace.  Gus would need to check the supports under the house, but it appeared that aside from minor cosmetic damage to the exterior and needing to dry and clean the carpets by the doors the main house was livable.  

The garage was no longer flooded but had been underwater for days.  There didn’t seem to be anything important left on the floor.  The interior walls would need to be torn out and the inevitable mold dealt with.

Gus took several pictures before going to the kitchen to find some vinegar and towels to start drying up the carpets.  He found a nearly full gallon of white vinegar under the sink, poured it liberally on the wet spots, and scrubbed it into the fibers before going off to find towels.  He soaked up as much of the vinegar and water as he could without any kind of carpet cleaner and called Abby.

“Good news,” he said when she answered.  “When you can get home, it’s still here and the only actual damage I’ve found so far is that the garage has been flooded.”

“Thank you so much, Gus.  That’s a relief,” Abby told him.

“You’re welcome.  When I get back to Camp, I’ll send the photos,” Gus promised.  “I’ll bring your key back to you tomorrow.”

“Stop and make a copy, you might as well stay at the house instead of a hotel or tent.  They’re telling us we can’t go home, but the military seems to be moving around well enough.”

“I’ll pull some strings, you can come home tonight,” Gus told her.  “I need to go requisition a fan to dry out the garage.”

\------

In D.C. Anya was on the phone, the Tulane administration were recommending “provisional enrollment” at certain other universities so that she didn’t lose the whole semester.  U Maryland College Park was on the list.  Their admissions people were nice but confused, she couldn’t possibly be the only college student displaced by Katrina in the greater Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

\------

Clarke had stared at the television for so long that she could actually feel her brain melting.  She wondered if she could go to school with Lexa and Linc.  At least that would be something to do instead of watching the news with Jake and obsessing over the horrors at home.

\------

When Lexa got home from school she found Clarke in her room, standing on her bed drawing on the ceiling.

“Clarke?”  she said from the doorway.

Clarke looked down at her and smiled.  “I got bored.”

“I can see that,” Lexa looked at the pencil lines on her ceiling.  

“I need some acrylics and brushes.”

\------

Jake had been in need of a task.  Since Gus had called and sent pictures of the house he called the insurance company and sat around with nothing else to do.  Clarke’s need of an art store was something he could do.  Something else he could do was pick up dinner so Anya didn’t feel obligated to cook again.

He returned to the Woods home an hour and half later with Clarke’s paints and four large pizzas.  One of them with barbecue, ham, pineapple, bacon, and jalapenos for Lincoln.  Linc traded Jake for a slice of supreme, while Jake agreed it wasn’t bad, he had regrets later in the night.

\------

**September 9, 2005**

Clarke spent Lexa’s school time painting a galaxy on the ceiling of the quarterback’s bedroom.  Every evening the quarterback returned home to another layer of blue paint.  

This evening was another football game.  It was an away game but still in town.  Jake remembered to take Gus’ video camera so he could record the game for him.

Clarke got to see Lexa on the field not under attack by a sexist jackass.  She was quick, calculating, and accurate.  Clarke was impressed.  Linc scored two touchdowns, Lexa threw two touchdown passes.  

The audio on the video was full of Clarke’s commentary.  “That was a nice pass.”

“Did you see her dodge that tackle?  Lexa’s fast!”

“Lexa’s got a great arm, huh, Dad?”

What Jake kept hearing, and Gus would agree with him later, was:  “Lexa’s pretty.  I like Lexa.  Lexa’s awesome.  Lexa’s so smart.”  Followed by a long series of kissing sounds.

Trying not to smile at smitten Clarke was the hardest thing Indra did all week.  Anya rolled her eyes so often Jake was worried she strained something.

When the game was over, the Panthers won 32 - 21, Clarke ran down to the field and flung herself at Lexa, again.

\------

**September 10, 2005**

Lexa was up early for a Saturday.  She made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, located a bag of chips, and a few bottles of water and packed them into her backpack.  She went to Anya’s room and shook her shoulder.

Anya cracked an eye open, “What?”

“I need a ride.”

“Take the Metro,” Anya grunted.

“Dad says I can’t go to Union Station without an adult until I’m 16.”

Anya growled.  “Where do you want to go that would require you to be at Union Station?”

“I want to take Clarke for a picnic at the zoo.”

“Like a date?”  Anya asked more alert.

“It’s not a date.”

“It sounds like a date,” Anya reasoned.

“It’s not a date,” Lexa repeated.

“Why isn’t it a date?”

“I’m twelve.”

“Meh.”

“I’m twelve and have serious body dysphoria.”

“That girl’s in love with you, twelve or not.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Anya.”

“Whatever,” Anya said.  “You know she’s completely unconcerned about your anatomy.”

“I should hope so, we’re twelve,” Lexa said seriously.  “So, will you give us a ride and pick us up?”

Anya groaned, “yeah, whatever.”

Lexa wandered back to her bedroom to find Clarke standing in a clean t-shirt and wearing a pair of Lexa’s boxer briefs.

“Um, Clarke,” Lexa raised an eyebrow.

“What, they’re clean.  I’m out of clean underwear,” Clarke defended.  “These are really comfortable.  Why doesn’t everyone wear them?”  Clarke stepped into the plaid shorts in her hands.

Lexa shrugged.  It was another one of those times where she would be horrified if it was anyone else, but since it was Clarke, it was okay.

“I’ve got to get my Mom to buy me some of these, I’ll finally be able to have Spider-Man underwear.  I’ve been so jealous,” Clarke was babbling and Lexa was so endeared she thought her heart was trying to climb out her throat.  “You okay, Lexa?”

“Uh, yeah,”  Lexa said trying to remember why she walked into her room in the first place.  “I made some sandwiches and asked Anya to drive us to the zoo.”

“Yeah?”  Clarke smiled and her whole face lit up.  

Lexa was trying to keep her heart in her chest so instead of speaking she nodded.

\------

**September 14, 2005**

Jake was packing up the Expedition to go back to New Orleans.  Gus and Abby have been staying at the house and tomorrow residents will be allowed to return to Metairie.  Gus had already torn the damaged sheet rock out of the garage.  Jake felt like a horrible husband and provider, but Abby wouldn’t let him come home until now and insisted that Clarke stay in D.C. until the schools re-opened.  Katrina cough was already an issue and no one knew if it would become a more serious epidemic.  All things considered, Abby was surprised the New Orleans metropolitan area wasn’t suffering a major e.coli or cholera outbreak.  

Clarke was furious.  It wasn’t that she wanted to leave the Woods home, she loved being with Lexa, but she hated being abandoned.  

“This isn’t fair, Dad!”

“I’m sorry, Bug.  Mom says no and she’s the doctor,” Jake told her.  “I’d rather you be here safe than stuck at home alone until the schools re-open.”

“I’ll be home alone here, too!”

“Clarke, sweetheart, New Orleans isn’t safe yet.  Stay here with the Woods Clan and be safe.”

Lexa and Lincoln were at school, Indra was at work, and Anya was in class in College Park.  “You’re leaving me here alone, Dad!”

“You have food, water, and a dry place to sleep.  You’re in better shape than most of the greater New Orleans area.  Anya gets out of class at 2, she will be here by 3.  Do not  turn on the stove, if you use the microwave stay with it.  I don’t want a repeat of the ‘lump of charcoal formerly known as a baked potato’ incident.”

Clarke sulked.

Jake opened his arms for a hug.  Clarke gave in and hugged her father, “I’m still really angry with you.”

“I know.  I love you, Bug.  Be good for Indra.”

“I love you, Dad.  Call me when you stop.”

“Okay, sweetheart.”

\------

Anya came home to lethargic koala Clarke lying on the sofa watching cartoons.  “Don’t you have painting to finish?”

“Waiting for it to dry,” Clarke didn’t take her eyes off of the television.

“Have you heard from Jake?”

Clarke grunted.

“I’m taking that as a yes but you’re mad at him,” Anya asked.

Clarke grunted again.

Anya looked at the clock then back at the lump that was Clarke on her parents sofa.  “You want to go get sundaes then go watch Linc and Lexa’s football practice?”

Clarke jumped off the couch and ran upstairs to wash the paint off and change clothes.

\---------

**October 1, 2005**

Indra, Anya, Lincoln, and Lexa stand with Clarke in the terminal at Reagan National.  Jefferson Parish schools reopen on Monday.  Clarke has spoken to her parents everyday and she’s finally going home.

It’s harder this time than ever before.  She’s spent more than a month living with Lexa, sharing a room and a bed, eating dinner together every night.

Twelve year olds should not have to feel this kind of heartbreak.  Clarke’s face was buried in Lexa’s neck, her arms around the brunette’s shoulders.

“We’ll see you in New Orleans at Christmas,” Indra told an inconsolable Clarke.

Clarke was unwilling to release Lexa.  

Lexa was doing a terrible job of being strong, fat, silent tears were rolling down her cheeks.

“I love you,” Clarke mumbled into her skin.

“I love you, too.”

\------

That evening, Lexa laid in her bed and stared at the galaxy Clarke had painted on her ceiling.  It seemed to reinforce how far away Clarke was.  She couldn’t sleep and her bed was way too big without the blonde.

Her phone chimed with a text.

\------

Clarke stared at her blank ceiling.  She missed warmth and security.  A million thoughts raced through her mind.  She spent fifteen minutes just dwelling on Lexa’s scent.  Another fifteen on the way her wild curls always found a way to tickle her nose.  A full twenty minutes on how Lexa’s long skinny arms snaked around her waist from behind and held her close.

Clarke picked up her phone and texted Lexa.

 **Clarke:**  I’m lonely and I can’t sleep.

 **Lexa:**  I have too much blanket and I don’t know what to do with it.  It’s keeping me awake.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The full report on what happened at Tulane Medical Center: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1863583/  
> What happened at Charity Hospital is disturbing, read at your own risk: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30doctors.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


	12. August 2006

**2006**

While New Orleans recovered slowly, Tulane reopened for the Spring semester.  Anya went back to her chosen school and got to experience her first Mardi Gras.  Albeit a much smaller more subdued party in post Katrina NOLA.

The Tulane spring break did not align with the break at Clarke and Lexa’s schools.  Although Anya tried to insist that the families follow the regular schedule and spend the week in DC, the Woods’ visited New Orleans.  Days were often spent on a beach in Mississippi or down at Grand Isle.

Summer break brought a trip to the Yucatan Peninsula in Playa del Carmen, exploring Mayan ruins, and lying on beaches.  It was a compromise, Anya wanted to go to Machu Picchu (she had never outgrown her love of _The Emperor’s New Groove_ ), Clarke and Lexa wanted to go scuba diving, Jake and Gus wanted to fish, Abby wanted a Caribbean beach, Lincoln wanted to go somewhere with pretty girls in very little clothing, Indra just wanted some peace.  So Anya got Chichen Itza and Valladolid, Clarke and Lexa got to go cenote and reef diving, Lincoln got hundreds of females in bikinis, Abby and Indra got to lay on beaches and pretend they didn’t have a handful of teenagers.

\------

**_August 2006_ **

It’s hot.  Lexa thinks that she melting in her football pads and uniform.  DC isn’t usually this hot.  The humidity is high and her compression shirt is soaked through.  She’s the quarterback and it’s football practice in the weeks leading to her 8th grade year.  Next year she moves up to the high school and has to climb to the top all over again.  It’s okay, though.  As long as she’s got Lincoln playing tight end, they’ll blast right back to varsity first string.

Coach set up a scrimmage practice, offense against defense.  Lexa had grown to hate these kinds of practices because the right side defensive end, Bellamy fucking Blake, was a complete piece of shit who still went out of his way to try to hurt her.  Last scrimmage practice, he made a point to face mask her.  Coach benched him and that only made it worse.  She didn’t know why he was suddenly a Panther this year, she suspected he just wanted to be on a team that didn’t suck for once.

They lined up on the ball.  Currently, Blake was staring down Lincoln, Lexa thought that might have something to do with his little sister’s crush on Lincoln.  She had shown up to practice three times already and tried to talk to him.  

Lincoln was starting to fill out a little, he looked less like a starving child and more like a teenager.  Last week he insisted he was growing a mustache.  Lexa thought it looked more like a shadow.  Puberty had arrived in the Woods home with a vengeance.  Lincoln was only a month older than Lexa so they tended to develop at the same rate.  While Lincoln was obsessing over a non-existent mustache and other body hair, Lexa was starting to develop above and below the belt.  This had necessitated a series of trips to her doctor.  Everything was fine, her testosterone output was slightly higher than an average teenage girl, but still within acceptable levels, her estrogen output was also normal.  There had been a mini meltdown when the doctor insisted on a fertility test.  They were still awaiting the results.

Lexa lost herself in football, it was easier not to think about her assorted genitalia when worrying about getting hit.  Lexa was a silent quarterback.  She tapped and motioned for calls.  It threw off the opposing teams.  In a offense vs defense scrimmage, though, her advantage was lost.  She tapped the center, they were a well oiled machine, she was already a yard back looking for her wide receivers before the defense was fully in motion.  Blake was barrelling over Lincoln, Lexa saw a flash of yellow on that side.  Blake was charging her in complete disregard of the flag.  She tried to sidestep but he threw himself at her midsection and knocked the wind out of her.  He landed on top of her on the field.  The ball rolled out of her hand.

“DON’T YOU KNOW A FLAG WHEN YOU SEE ONE BLAKE?!?”  Coach Ryder was red faced and screaming.  “GET OFF MY FIELD!!!”

Blake made a point to knee her in the side and jammed his elbow into her ribs getting up.  His arm “slipped” and he came down hard on her midsection again.  His elbow came down hard on her cup and light exploded behind Lexa’s eyes as pain exploded in her groin.

Bellamy stared at her, “Is that a cup?”

Lincoln yanked Blake back off of her.  Lexa curled up in pain, her lower abdomen on fire.

“Woods has a dick!”  Blake was shouting.  “Holy shit, all this time I thought I was playing ball against a fucking girl, now I find out it’s just a faggot!”

Lincoln’s fist connected with Blake’s jaw.  Bellamy didn’t say anything else because he was knocked out.  The damage was done, though.  Lexa could hear the whispers all through the team, “Woods has a dick?”  

“So Woods is a fag?”  

“Woods is a tranny?”  

“Am I gay because I wanted to fuck her. . . him?”

It took all Lexa had not to cry.  She managed to get to her feet with Linc’s help.

“Yeah, what the hell Linc, you couldn’t tell us Woods is a shemale?”  A linebacker said.  Linc swung around and punched him in the nose.  Blood spurted everywhere.

“We gotta move, Lex,” Linc hustled Lexa off the field.

Luckily, Anya was still home for the summer and had arrived early to pick them up from practice. She had parked her car close to the field house.  Lexa climbed in the back, laid across the seat and cried out her pain, humiliation, and frustration.

“What happened?”

“That Blake asshole.  He fouled Lex and then felt her cup.  He started screaming to everyone on the field that Lexa has a dick.”

Anya looked and saw the team coming up to the field house.  She could see Blake laughing and shouting, drying blood on his face and jersey.  She got out of the car.

“Anya, no!  Shit!”  Linc jumped out of the car after her.

“Blake, you sack of shit!”  Anya shouted.

“What the fuck do you want, slanty-eye'd bitch?”  He shouted back.

“Leave my sister alone.”

“Don’t you mean brother?”  Bellamy Blake’s vision went dark.  Linc dragged Anya back to the car to keep her from kicking his skull in.

****

\------

****

The entire Wood’s clan sat around the dining room table of their home.  Linc and Anya had filled Gus and Indra in on what had happened.  Lexa sat silent, staring at her hands.

“What do we want to do?”  Gus asked.

Everyone looked at Lexa, who continued to look at her hands.

Lincoln finally spoke up, “I don’t think Lexa is safe here anymore.”

Gus looked at him then back at Lexa.  Silent tears were rolling down her face.  Gus turned his attention to Indra, who nodded.  “I need to make a call.  Nobody leave this room.”  Gus walked out of the dining room and out the back door.

Twenty minutes later, Gus walked back into the silent dining room.  He sat back down in his seat and laid his cell on the table face up.  “Tell me again, Major.”

“Am I on speaker?” a male voice asked.

“Yes, sir,” Gus replied.

“Ok, there is an opening for you in New Orleans, if you want it,” the voice said.  Lexa looked up at Gus for the first time that night.  “I can get the transfer pushed through in about a week.  That won’t leave you a lot of time to find a place.”

“We’ll be fine,” Gus said.

“I’ll process the leave starting tomorrow,” the officer said.  “We’ll miss you Gus.”

“Thanks again, Sir,” Indra said.

“You’re welcome, Woods’.  I’m going to get this started.  Have a good night.”

“You too, Sir.”  The call ended.

“What about Anya?”  Lincoln asked.  “Are you still going to let her live in the dorms at Tulane?”

“I knew I would never escape you, Linc,”  Anya scowled.

“I’m the little brother you always wanted.”

“You’re the annoying cousin who steals my CDs!”

“We’re really going to New Orleans?”  Lexa finally spoke up.

“We are, it might take Indra a little while to get a transfer,” Gus replied.

“I’m sorry, Dad.”  Fat silent tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Don’t be sorry, Monkey.  You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“In fact, you’ve been so good you’re all moving halfway across the country so you can be with Clarke every day,” Anya teased.

“Anya, don’t tease your sister,” Indra scolded.

Gus picked up his phone again and dialed the Griffin home number.  He put it on speaker as it rang.

“Woods!”  Jake’s voice answered.

“Griffin!”  The Woods clan shouted back in unison.

“Wow, it’s a family call, then.  Abby’s at the hospital, Clarke is here though.  She’s been waiting for Lexa to text.  Hang on.”  Jake could be heard calling Clarke, then putting the phone on speaker.

“What’s up?”  Clarke’s voice was a little distant as she had just entered the room where Jake answered the phone.

“It’s a Woods-Griffin family call,” Jake told her.

“Hey Woods Clan,” Clarke said brightly.  Lexa’s eyes lit up at the sound of her voice.

“Hi Clarke,” the Woods’ chanted.

“Jake, Clarke needs to be sitting down for this,” Gus said seriously.

“Oh, my God, what’s wrong?!”  Clarke worried.

“We’re all moving to New Orleans,” Gus announce happily.

“The whole clan?”  Clarke asked.  “Anya will have someone elses fridge to clean out?”

“The whole clan.  My transfer will be processed by the end of the week.”

Lexa’s phone started chiming, Gus knew it was Clarke texting her when he could hear Clarke’s phone chiming on the other end.

“That’s not going to be a lot of time to find a place.  Why don’t you stay with us until you can find something?”

“I can’t ask you to put us up, Jake,” Gus said.

“You didn’t ask.  I offered and Clarke and Abby would skin me alive if I didn’t insist.”

“I think Lexa and I will fly down tomorrow, we’ll start looking and get Lex and Linc registered for school.”  Lexa’s eyes lit up.  “I’ll have to fly back after a couple of days to sign some papers, but Lex can stay with you while we pack up, if that’s okay.”

Clarke could be heard squeeing.  “Yes!”

Jake laughed, “I think that will be fine, Gus.”

“I need to go pack for a couple of days and Lexa needs to start packing up her stuff.  We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

“Good night, Woods’,” Jake and Clarke said.

“Good night, Griffins!”  The Woods clan replied.

The call ended.  Gus looked around at his family, “Well, get to packing!”  The kids all jumped from their seats and ran for their rooms.

Gus looked at his wife, “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

Indra nodded.  “I won’t make her stay here after that kind of humiliation.  It’s best to take them where they already have family waiting for them.  You’ve wanted to move down there since the first time we visited.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ve already made contacts, even if I don’t get a transfer as quick as yours, I’ll be there by Halloween.  It’ll give us time to get the house on the market and sold.”

\-----

Clarke:  You’re moving here!  I can see you every day!

Lexa:  I’ll like that.

Clarke:  You’re not excited, Lex.  I know it’s not me, so tell me what happened.

Lexa:  We have to move because that shit stain, Blake, found out about Alex and started shouting it to the whole team.

Clarke:  Blake?  That asshole from Mount Weather?

Lexa:  Yeah, him.  Linc punched him, then Anya knocked him out.

Clarke:  Anya does love violence.

****

Lexa doesn’t reply for several minutes.

****

Clarke:  Lex, are you crying?

Clarke:  Lex, talk to me.

Incoming call from Clarke.

Lexa accepted the call but couldn’t speak.

“I can hear you breathing.  I love you, Lexa.  You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I’m here, okay.”

“O-Okay,” Lexa stuttered out.  She took a deep breath.  “Tell me about your day.”

****

\------

****

The next morning, as if to give Lexa one last look at DC, Gus took the long way to Reagan Airport.  They cut across the city to Constitution Avenue to take one last drive along the Mall for Lexa to look at the monuments and museums.

Lexa only had vague memories of Memphis as a city so D.C. was really the only home she knew.  To be honest, New Orleans felt more like home to her than Memphis, D.C., too.

“Was there a crazy pink mansion that we went to in Memphis?”  Lexa asked Gus as they passed the Lincoln Memorial and Gus swung around behind it to cross the Potomac on the Arlington Bridge.

“There was, you remember that?”

Lexa took her time answering.  “I remember a really huge pink brick house.”

“Why are you thinking about Memphis?”  Gus had crossed the Potomac and merged onto the Washington Parkway before Lexa answered.

“Can we go to Memphis sometime?”

“That would make Anya very happy.”

“Was there a huge glass pyramid or did I make that up?”

“It’s real, I think it’s abandoned now though,” Gus told her.  “You never answered my question.”

“I don’t remember Memphis.  I know I was born there and Mom died there, but D.C. has always been the place I thought of as home.  It’s not my home anymore and I’m not sad about it.  I wondered if maybe Memphis was home, but I can’t really remember it, so I don’t think it’s home either.”

“What do you think of when you think of home?”  Gus asked.

Lexa thought about it for several moments.  Clarke come to mind a lot.  They were parking in the long term lot and getting their luggage out of the back before Lexa answered.  “Do you remember the time we went to the cabin and spent the week with the Griffins?”

“That was a fun week.”  Gus locked up the car and hefted his old Army duffle full of Lexa’s clothes over his shoulder.  Lexa pulled his slightly smaller, certainly lighter, rolling suitcase.

“What do you think that means?”

Gus adjusted the bag and walked toward the terminals.

“I think it means that you feel most at home when all of us are together.”

****

\------

****

The plane landed in New Orleans, father and daughter had barely spoken since they checked in at Reagan.  As they disembarked, Lexa briefly felt the oppressive heat and humidity of New Orleans in the tunnel between the plane and the terminal.  Somehow, it felt like the place to be.  They walked out of the terminal and Lexa locked eyes with Clarke.

Clarke was restrained by airport rules and had to wait for the Woods' to get to her.  Clarke flung her arms around the quarterback and kissed her cheek.  Lexa felt butterflies in her stomach.  Puberty was being very kind to Clarke Griffin.  Curves were starting to form, her skin was perfect.  It had only been two months, but there was a marked change in her appearance.

If Lexa was noticing how nicely Clarke was coming along, it was nothing compared to Clarke’s racing heart when she saw how much the brunette had grown.  Lexa had shot up another two inches since the summer in Mexico.  Her own curves were coming in nicely and when Clarke hugged her friend she glanced down her back to see that her butt might as well have been sculpted by Michelangelo.  Her skinny friend was putting on muscle and had finally grown taller than the blonde.  Clarke felt something stirring that she hadn’t felt before.

Clarke felt tears on her shoulder and instantly regretted her appreciation of Lexa’s butt.  It was still a great ass but she shouldn’t be objectifying Lexa while she was so upset.

“I would say I’m sorry, but you’ll be with me all the time now so that shithead did me a huge favor,”  Clarke told the quarterback.

“Why hello Clarke, it’s great to see you again so soon, too!”  Gus boomed.

Clarke shifted her head to look at Gus, “‘Sup, Gus.”

“Hi, sweetie, where’s your Dad?”  Gus said more kindly.

“He’s down at baggage claim,” the blonde told him.  “Wanted to get a head start.”

Gus nodded and started working his way toward baggage claim.  Clarke pulled back slightly so she could see Lexa’s face.  The tears made her big green eyes seem even bigger and greener.  She pulled Lexa down so their foreheads could touch.  “I can’t be sad that you’re here.”

A side effect of Clarke’s ADHD made her a little impulsive.  Most of the time she managed to stop herself from doing impulsive and often wildly inappropriate things.  The sight of Lexa’s eyes and her lips so close to her own overrode every sane thought Clarke might have.  She tilted her chin up, separating their foreheads and connecting their lips.  It was soft, gentle, and chaste.

Lexa didn’t pull back, in fact she pushed in just a little herself.  

“Clarke, get off Lexa and come on!”  Jake’s voice rang out across the terminal.

“Shit,” Clarke jumped, separating her lips from Lexa’s.  “Do you think he saw that?”

“From the way he’s grinning, yeah, he saw,” Lexa smirked.  Clarke dropped her forehead to Lexa’s shoulder.

They rode to the Griffin house separately.  Gus needed a rental so he could start looking for a house and getting Linc and Lexa registered for school.  Lexa decided to ride with Gus when she saw the teasing look Jake was giving her.

“So, first kiss?”  Jake grinned.

“Not really, but . . .”  Clarke tried to find words.  “Different.”

“Do we need to talk about the birds and the bees?”

“I’d rather not,” Clarke said.  “Mom gave me a book last month when I got my period.”

“You know you’re always going to be my baby, right?”

“Even when you have grand babies?”

“Even when I have adorable curly headed grand babies,” he nodded.  “I don’t want you to rush anything, Clarke.  You have a lot of time.”

“I know, Dad.  No rushing.”

\------

“So, caught kissing Clarke!”  Gus chuckled.

“She kissed me,” Lexa’s ears and cheeks were red.

“Best thing that ever happened to you?”

“Best thing that ever happened to me,” Lexa sighed.

“Don’t get in a hurry to grow up, okay Monkey?”  Lexa had turned thirteen last month.  Lincoln turned thirteen in June, he was already in a hurry to kiss as many girls as he could.  Gus just wanted his baby girl to know who she was and what she wanted before she got herself all wrapped up in someone else.  He knew Clarke would never ask Lexa to be anyone but who she was, he just needed Lexa to know that too.

Lexa looked at her father and understood all the things he didn’t say.  “I won’t, Poppa Bear.”

\------

Turning onto the Griffin’s street Lexa saw something that made this the best day of her life.  “DAD!”  She pointed out the windshield to a house across the street from the Griffin’s.  There was a For Sale sign in the yard.

Gus pulled into the Griffin’s drive and got out to go look at the real estate sign.  Clarke and Jake walked out into the yard to stand with Lexa.

“Did you know?”  Lexa asked Jake.

“It’s been for sale since Katrina,” he told her.  “The Mbege’s evacuated to Little Rock and decided to stay.  They’ve been asking too much, but I think for the right family, they’ll come down.”

“The right family?”  Lexa asked.

“One that will piss off the Jaha’s,” Clarke said.

“Rainbow flags for everyone,” Jake smiled.  He pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his contacts.  “Hey, somebody’s looking at your house.  I think you’ll like them.”

\------

Two weeks had passed, Lexa, Clarke, and Linc started the eighth grade and shared many of the same classes.  First through sixth for Clarke and Lexa, Clarke had art 7th period while Lexa and Linc were in the field house.  Lincoln had Social Studies and Science with them.

Anya still had another week before the fall semester at Tulane started so she was still in D.C. helping Indra pack up the house.  Indra had gotten a PCS date of October 1st. Gus had made an offer on the house across from the Griffin’s and the Mbege’s accepted.  They would close in another two weeks, Gus was looking forward to setting up the ultimate man cave in the converted garage.  He had already picked out a pool table.  Jake picked out a dart board.  Together they were drawing up plans for a bar.

On the second day of eighth grade, Lexa was formally introduced to Clarke’s ADHD.  Clarke fidgeted and tapped.  Fifteen minutes into the class period she would start to lose focus, lectures required her to pace in the back of the class.  By third period Health, the tapping was starting to get to the still Lexa.  She recalled that sometimes when Clarke held her hand, she would unconsciously play with her fingers.  As bright as Lexa was, she figured out quickly that it was one of Clarke’s coping mechanisms.  Lexa put her left hand on Clarke’s desk, she started to play with the quarterback’s fingers and found a little more focus for the teacher.

In Algebra, Jasper Jordan noticed the hand holding, “Are you two dating?”

“Are you and Monty dating?”  Clarke retorted.

“I don’t hold Monty’s hand in math,” Jasper defended.  Monty looked up from his work, having heard his name.

“No, but you hold his dick when he pees,” Clarke said.

“That was once and he had two broken arms, we promised we would never speak of it again after the last time you hit me,” Jasper whispered in a panic.

“How often have you hit Jasper?”  Monty asked.

“Twenty times that I know of,” Lexa said.

Monty tilted his head curiously and looked at Lexa.  He had only met her for the first time the day before even though he had been hearing about her since the second grade.  “How do you know that?”

“Every St. Patrick’s Day because Jasper gets pinch happy,” Lexa said while Jasper nodded.  “Every April Fool’s Day because Jasper tries to play some stupid prank,” she continued.  “That Halloween when Jasper threw a rubber snake at her.”  Clarke nodded and gave Jasper a terrifying look.   “The time that Jasper laughed when Wells called Nathan a ‘butt pirate’.”  Monty punched Jasper in the arm.  “When he tried to kiss Clarke behind the slide in the 6th grade.”  Monty laughed.  “And last year when Jasper drew penises all over your casts.”

“You’re a dick, man,” Monty said.

“He’s a dick man,” Clarke said.

“I’m not gay,” Jasper defended.

“Then stop being so obsessed with penises,” Clarke told him.

“You never answered the question, are you and Lexa dating?”  Jasper asked.

“Do I need to hit you again?”

“We’re not dating,” Lexa said.

“Then why are you holding hands?”

“Look again,” Lexa said.  “Notice the distinct lack of tapping.”

“Huh,” Jasper said understanding.  He turned back to his work.

Clarke was looking at Lexa with a smirk.  Lexa gave her a small smile and went back to her work.

\------

After the first few days, teachers stopped asking Lexa and Clarke not to hold hands in class.  Clarke was more focused most days and didn’t have to be asked to leave the room after she finished her work.  As long as Lexa was next to her to hold her hand or let Clarke braid her hair, Clarke was a model student.  Lexa was neither distracted nor annoyed by Clarke’s using her as something to fidget with in class.  

They both excelled in all of their classes.  Lexa was the starting quarterback by the third game of the season.  They spent all of their free time together, sometimes Monty and Harper were invited along.  Jasper tagged along because wherever Monty went, Jasper went.

They continued to not date.  They hadn’t kissed since the airport.  They had taken the time to discuss it and decided that they had all the time in the world, the wedding wasn’t until 2020.  They could be kids, they could just enjoy life and figure out who they were.

 

 


	13. Holidays 2006

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short bit of fluff to apologize ahead of time for the next couple of chapters.

**October 2006**

For Clarke’s fourteenth birthday, Abby insisted upon a party.  Jake insisted upon something cool and not a bunch of teenagers dripping pizza sauce on the rug in his den.  Jake booked a Laser Tag party, then the little delinquents could chase each other around in a controlled environment that didn’t leave him concerned about the safety of his electronics.  It wasn’t his own calamity of a daughter, it wasn’t the Woods kids, it was that Jordan kid who was a walking disaster.  At Clarke’s sixth birthday party, Jasper ran into the table holding Abby’s grandmother's clock.  The clock did not survive the encounter.  At Clarke’s ninth birthday party, Jasper put a baseball through the kitchen window.  At Clarke’s twelfth birthday party a nutria ended up in his kitchen and while nobody could explain what happened or where it came from, they all agreed that Jasper was involved.  During Clarke’s thirteenth birthday party Jake’s stereo was a casualty of Jasper and Monty, Monty confessed to wanting to boost the wattage, but swore that’s where his involvement ended.  Jake walked into the den and smelled the burnt ozone smell of fried electronics.  He spent twenty years building the perfect stereo, Jasper murdered it in an afternoon and was officially banned from the Griffin home.

So when it came time to plan Clarke’s fourteenth, Jake determined that the best course of action was to take them somewhere where they could run wild and be unlikely to break anything. Jasper, Monty, Harper, and Zoe versus Nathan, Lincoln, Lexa, and Clarke in three games of Laser Tag.  When Anya heard the plan, she joined Jake in secretly sniping the teens in the arena.

\------

In the third game, Clarke and Lexa were crouched behind a low wall.  Nathan had been sniped just a few seconds into the round, they had gotten separated from Lincoln and hadn’t seen him in several minutes.

Lexa knew that Anya knew where they were and she was waiting for them to try to move.  She knew because Monty and Harper both got picked off looking for them.

“Do you think we can just stay here until she’s picked everyone else off?”  Clarke asked.

“Probably, but she’s counting on you getting hungry before that,” Lexa told her.  “Your Dad got an Italian wedding cake from that bakery in Marigny that you two like so much.”

“I love that cake!”  Clarke practically salivated.  “We’ve got to get to that cake, Lex.”

“Clarke?”  Lincoln’s voice was just above a whisper and not far from their position.

“Linc?”  Lexa whisper called back.

“Lex!”  They could hear Lincoln moving toward them.

“No, stay. . .” Lexa was calling, too late.  Lincoln’s alarm went off signaling that he had been tagged.  “. . . Anya is sniping people.”

They heard Anya laughing from her position.

“I get that,” Lincoln said walking out of the arena.

“Don’t you have a social life?  Boys to kiss?  Girls to date?”  Lexa shouted at her sister.

“I can’t miss out on an opportunity to harass Clarke!”  Anya called back.

“Tormenting me is better than dating?”  Clarke called.

“Kind of,” Anya replied.

Clarke started to get up but Lexa tugged her back down.  “Don’t give her what she wants.”

“Why doesn’t Anya date?”  Clarke asked Lexa softly.  “I’ve never seen her with anyone or heard her talk about anyone.”

“She says she’s too busy,” Lexa whispered.  “She used to go out in D.C., but I don’t think there was ever anyone serious.”

“Come up with an escape plan yet?”  Anya shouted.  “Those other kids are probably tearing into that sweet looking cake by now.”

“I need that cake, Lex,” Clarke whined.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do, I’m going to sacrifice myself so you can get away.”

“No way, we win or lose together,” Clarke insisted.

“Clarke, we don’t know exactly where she is and we can’t peek without her picking us off.”

“Give me your shoe,” Clarke whispered.

“What?”

“Give me your shoe.”  Clarke explained.  “I’m going to throw it over against that wall to distract her so we can run.”

Lexa shrugged and pulled off her shoe, handing it to Clarke.  They got up into a crouch ready to run.  Clarke tossed the shoe as hard as she could and they jumped up.

Anya got them both with one shot.

“Dammit!”  Clarke shouted.

“A shoe, Clarke, really?”  Anya laughed.  “First rule of warfare, don’t let Clarke make plans when she’s hungry.”

\------

Lexa had seen Wells Jaha a few times.  He went to private school and avoided the other neighborhood kids so she hadn’t interacted with him in the few months since they had been living in Metairie.  

Clarke and Lexa were walking out of the arena after turning in their gear when Wells walked into Lexa.

“Watch where you’re going, dyke!”  He shouted.

“Seriously, Wells?”  Clarke said.  “I’ve got no problem kicking your ass again!”

“I’d rather you not touch me and infect me with your sickness,” Wells sneered.

“Excuse me?” Lexa rounded on him.

“Stay away from me you abomination,” Wells backed away.

Lincoln grabbed Lexa’s arms from behind before she could hit him, “Run, jackass,” Lincoln told him.  “”Before I lose my grip.”

\------

That night Lexa and Clarke curled up together in Clarke’s bed.

“He doesn’t know does he?”  Lexa asked timidly.

“Hmmm?”  Clarke was half asleep with her head on Lexa’s chest.

“Wells.”  Lexa said.

“No, Lex, he doesn’t know.  He calls me an abomination all the time.”

Lexa seemed to accept this.

“I love you, Lex.”

“I love you, too, birthday girl.”

“Only for a few more minutes.”

“Did you get everything you wanted?”

“Almost.”

There was a long pause before Lexa asked, “Are you going to tell me what you didn’t get?”

Clarke tilted her face to look at Lexa’s.  She was quiet for a long time.  Lexa waited, she was good at waiting for Clarke to find the words she needed.

“A kiss from you,” Clarke breathed.

Lexa’s heart tried to climb out of her throat and take a leap at Clarke.  

Clarke shifted her head to press her ear to Lexa’s chest.  She heard the brunette’s heart pounding like Lexa had run a two minute mile.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare or pressure you,” Clarke started speaking fast.

“No Clarke, you didn’t,” Lexa soothed.  “I- you-,” she stopped and tried to calm down.  “I would be happy to kiss you.”

Clarke pushed herself up and hovered over Lexa, faces close.  Even in the dark blue met green.  Lexa reached up and placed a hand on Clarke’s cheek.  Clarke leaned down and Lexa lifted her head, their lips met in the middle in another gentle kiss.  They separated and smiled at each other shyly.  Clarke shifted back down to lay her head on Lexa’s chest.

“Goodnight, Lexa.”

“Goodnight, Clarke.”

\------

**Halloween**

Halloween came and for the first time instead of coordinating costumes from a thousand miles apart, they would be able to to take the group picture together.  Clarke was Batwoman, Lexa was the Question, Linc was Nightwing

Lexa in a white oxford with one of Jake’s black neck ties was having an interesting affect on Clarke.  By the time the quarterback added the fedora and overcoat, Clarke was over the moon.  They put together her mask using a plain plastic face mask covered with a piece of flesh colored, nearly opaque tights.  Lexa could mostly see through the fabric.

There was a Halloween party at Jasper’s house with many of their friends and classmates.  Jasper’s parents went all out to throw a Halloween party out of a television show.  There was bobbing for apples, a cauldron with dry ice in the punch creating a low fog, a covered table with eyeballs (peeled grapes), brains (macaroni molded with gelatin), and a dead hand (plastic glove filled with flour and water).  They were torn between thinking the whole thing was kind of juvenile and having fun playing with the dry ice.

While it had never been discussed among the core group, Linc brought a date.  Her name was Luna and she went to one of the private Catholic schools, she lived two streets over from the Woods and Griffin homes.  Her parents owned a creole restaurant in the city, she was nice.  She came dressed as Batgirl to Linc’s Nightwing and they spent a large portion of the night making out on the Jordan’s back deck.   

The other delinquents decided that Linc was slighting them with his obsession with getting to second base, they pelted him with water balloons from the back door until he agreed to come inside and play Truth or Dare with them.  

It is a universal truth that every game of Truth or Dare will end with someone’s bare ass.  This one ended with Jasper streaking down the street in order to not answer if he had masturbated thinking about anyone in the room.  Everyone was a little creeped out, a new rule was agreed upon, John Murphy was not allowed to play Truth or Dare anymore.

\------

**Thanksgiving**

The Woods’ and Griffin’s celebrated their first Thanksgiving together at the Woods house.  Jake and Gus just wanted to shoot pool and drink Abita beer in Gus’ Man Cave.  Clarke and Lexa joined their fathers in the converted garage to play a few games of Griffins vs Woods eight ball while the football game played on the television.  They had also stashed a few of the pies that Gus had made the night before in the beer fridge and liberally partook of them throughout the day.

By dinner time, they were full of pie and Clarke was in serious need of a nap.  Lexa was bouncing off the walls running from Linc who was mad that they didn’t tell him they had been demolishing pies without him.

\------

**Christmas Eve**

Lincoln, Lexa, and Clarke piled up in the floor of the Griffin house to watch the Star Wars Trilogy for the first time on DVD.  The old VHS tapes were pretty worn out.  They held a ceremony to retire them.  Fifteen minutes into the _Star Wars Special Edition_ DVD Clarke got up ejected the disc, threw it across the room and put the Bonus Features disc with the original theatrical release on it in the player.  The same thing happened with _Empire_ and _Jedi_.

The next morning while handing out presents the _Star Wars_ disc fell out of the Christmas tree where it had lodged and bonked Anya on the head.  Linc called it karma for not watching the Trilogy with them as tradition demanded.  Jake found the _Empire Strikes Back_ Special Edition disc under the couch a few weeks later while vacuuming.  The _Return of the Jedi_ Special Edition disc was never found.

\------

**New Years Eve**

Lincoln was at a party with Luna, Anya was at a party with some school friends, their parents were at a party for the hospital.  

Clarke and Lexa were home alone at the Woods residence with a bottle of champagne.  They drank it relatively quickly while playing pool and watching television.  By the time midnight came around, Lexa was drunk and Clarke was uninhibited.  Their New Year’s kiss started slow and gentle and then got away from them.  Clutching at each other, tongues exploring, Clarke sucked on Lexa’s plump bottom lip.  It was sloppy, messy, and the best thing to ever happen to either of them.

In the morning, they both thought they had dreamt the kiss. **  
**

 

 


	14. September 2008

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So many trigger warnings. Check the tags.
> 
> 7/13/17 - Did an edit to this chapter to make what happened more clear. It might actually be more painful to read now, though.

**Fall 2008**

While Freshman year had passed by with very little in the way of notable incidents, due to the ‘Freshman Academy’ style of the high school they were kept in a wing away from the upper classmen and the only thing different than eighth grade was the location.

Sophomore year, however, was weird and confusing.  Maybe it was the hormones, there were a whole lot of hormones flying around, maybe it was the feeling of being fresh meat, but Clarke, Lexa, Lincoln, Monty, and Harper were uncomfortable.  Jasper was, as usual too oblivious to notice.  The girls found themselves attracting unwanted attention from upper class boys looking for an easy mark.  Clarke had never felt more like a gazelle tracked by a pride of lions in her life.  She would have to stop and sympathize next time she went to the zoo.  Harper was getting as much attention as Clarke was, but Monty was doing his best to make it appear that he was marking his territory.  Over the years, Lexa had perfected her resting bitch face.  The horny junior and senior boys were too afraid of the football player to consider flirting with her.

As in eighth and ninth grade, Clarke and Lexa had every class together but last period.  Clarke was in Art and Lexa was in the field house.  Over the years, Clarke had learned to dawdle in the art room after last bell.  If she could stay busy for an hour she could walk home with Lexa and Linc.  She didn’t like to hang out in the stands and watch practice because the boys would leer at her wondering which of them she was there to watch.  Clarke felt that the safest course of action was to keep her infinite love for Lexa under wraps at school. 

Clarke checked her watch and saw that the team would be heading back from the field.  She gathered her things and waited outside the field house where Lincoln and Lexa would exit the building.  A senior with floppy hair and a charming smile came out of the field house and took in the blonde.  At fifteen going on sixteen, Clarke had developed very nicely, she was gorgeous, curves in all the right places and a disarming smile.  He walked over to where she was waiting.

“Hey there, beautiful,” he greeted.  Clarke flicked her eyes to him and back to her phone where she was texting Linc and Lex her location.  He was undeterred.  “I’m Finn Collins, starting quarterback.”

“That’s nice,” Clarke said continuing to focus on her phone.  Finn willfully mistook her disinterest for interest.  Clarke rarely regretted being polite, but this was one of those times.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?”  Finn asked, if Clarke wasted a moment's thought on it she would have declared him simpering.

Clarke was pretending she didn’t hear him when Lincoln walked out of the field house and shouted a greeting, “Clarke!”  She looked up and smiled at him, Lincoln was a happy kind of guy and it was a little infectious, like herpes.  If Linc smiled, everybody smiled.

She had forgotten Finn until he spoke again.  “Clarke, huh?  Is that your first name or your last name.”

Clarke rolled her eyes and walked toward Lincoln, “I guess you’ll have to figure it out.”

Finn, never one to take a hint, “Oh, baby, I will.”

Lexa walked out about that time and saw Finn eyeing Clarke and smiling.  She already didn’t like Collins and he already didn’t like her.  She was a better player and Coach Titus was already threatening to drop the senior back to second string and make Lexa the starter.  Clarke threw her arms around the brunettes neck and they forgot all about Finn Collins.

For the next two weeks, when Clarke waited for Linc and Lex outside the field house, Finn would approach and flirt.  Clarke thought he was gross, but he wouldn’t take a hint.  Linc noticed and tried to get out of the field house as quickly as possible every day, but it wasn’t always possible.

“Hey there, gorgeous,” Finn said leaning into her.  Clarke stepped away.  “Aw, come on now, babe, I don’t have cooties.”

“I kind of think you do,” Clarke said.

Finn stepped close again, “I just had a flea treatment yesterday, I should be good.”

Clarke laughed, it was funny.  She still thought he was gross.  

Lexa walked out of the field house to see Finn Collins standing very close to Clarke and Clarke laughing.  She felt uncomfortable.  Clarke saw her and smiled that million watt smile and Lexa forgot all about Collins.  Lincoln joined them a few moments later and they walked home.

The following Friday, Finn threw two interceptions and couldn't complete a single pass.  Coach pulled him and put Lexa out on the field.  She managed to pull a win by running the final touchdown in herself.  Clarke screamed herself hoarse.  After the game, Clarke was waiting in her usual spot when Finn slammed the field house door open and stormed out angrily.  When he spotted Clarke he smiled that charming smile but it didn’t reach his eyes.  “Hey there, gorgeous,” he said.

Clarke as usual, ignored him.

“Don’t be like that Clarke, I’ve had a very bad day and I could really use a hug,” he simpered at her.  “How about it?”

Clarke was weighing her options when Finn flung his arms around her and squeezed her tight.  Lexa chose just that moment to walk out of the field house.  Finn released the struggling Clarke, “Thanks, babe.  I really needed that.  See you later,” he said as he walked away.

Lexa felt that uncomfortable feeling again.  Deep in her gut.  She didn’t know what it was, but she didn’t like it.  

Clarke wrapped her arms around Lexa and forgot all about Finn.  

On the walk to Gus' car, Lincoln told Clarke that since Finn couldn’t hit a single target during the game Coach made Lexa the starter effective immediately.  Clarke was so proud she kissed Lexa’s cheek.  Gus took them all out for beignets.

\------

**Monday**

The following Monday, Lexa enters the girls locker room after practice.  She was the only sophomore to make the varsity team first string cut.  She wished Lincoln was playing first string so she would always hit her guy, _Soon_ , she thought.  Her cleats clomp weirdly on the concrete floor.  A few of the cheerleaders are still in the locker room.  Lexa went to her locker and ignored the stares.  They always stared, Lexa always tried not to think about why.

She opened her locker and sat down on the bench in front of it.  She kind of hurt all over.  She got sacked three times today, by the biggest linebacker the team had, a senior named Sterling.  He tried not to be too aggressive, but Coach Titus wanted the line to hit her as hard as the opposing team would.

Lexa pulled off her cleats and tossed them one at a time up into her locker.  She rested for a moment after.  She was going slow, giving all of the cheerleaders time to vacate the locker room.  Tomorrow Lexa would have to come up with a reason to stay down on the field longer so she didn’t have to do this again.  She could hear two cheerleaders still speaking low to each other.  They were on the other side of the room so she couldn’t hear the words.  Not that she wanted to, she just wanted them to leave so she could shower.

She pulled her jersey and shoulder pads over her head with a grunt of pain.  Lexa looked at her locker and looked at the jersey clad pads in her hand and decided she would have to stand to shove them in the locker, a toss wasn’t going to do the job.

Lexa finally heard the last two cheerleaders walking out.  She felt eyes on her until the doors opened.  She was still in her compression shirt, pants, thigh pads, and knee pads, but she felt a little exposed.  She didn’t look around though.  She only continued to stare into her locker until she heard the door latch.

When it did, she jumped up, pulled off the rest of her uniform, grabbed two towels, and her shower bag out of her locker, and dashed to the showers in only her boxer briefs and sports bra.

She finished stripping quickly and got under a shower head turned up as high as it would go.  She washed quickly, but couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her.  She looked around several times but didn’t see or hear anyone.

She emerged from the locker room, dressed in sweatpants and a tank top with wet hair a few minutes later.

Clarke and Lincoln were the last two standing outside the door, she saw Finn walking away.  “Sorry, the cheerleaders just wouldn’t go.  You should probably go on without me tomorrow,” Lexa told them.

“We don’t mind waiting for you, Lexa,” Clarke wrapped an arm around the brunette’s shoulders as they walked.

Lexa wondered if Clarke didn’t mind waiting because Finn was there to flirt with her.

\------

**Tuesday**

The next day, Lincoln, Clarke, Harper, Monty, and Jasper were gathered around a table in the cafeteria for lunch.  It was Lexa’s turn to run to their locker and switch to the after lunch books.  Clarke and Lexa took it in turns, one went to their shared locker, the other picked up lunch.  As usual the gang had left Lexa’s seat open next to Clarke.  Clarke was asking Monty about some history notes when a body dropped into the seat beside her.  Not looking she reached over and put a hand on a shoulder that was decidedly not Lexa’s.  It took her a second to get the signals from her hand to her brain.  She yanked her hand away and whipped her head around and saw Finn smiling at her.  “That seat is taken,” she told him.

“I don’t see anybody here,” Finn smiled at her.  Clarke was creeped out by the way he smiled at her.  She was really starting to hate Finn Collins.

“Go away, Finn,” Clarke said decisively.  

Finn stood and put a hand on the back of her neck, “You’ll warm up to me.”  He walked away.

No one had noticed Lexa stepping into the cafeteria just in time to see Clarke put a hand on Finn’s shoulder.  She didn’t hang around to see more, she turned and found somewhere else to be for the next thirty minutes.  She hated the way she felt when she saw Finn with Clarke.  

Clarke found her in their fifth period classroom, “What happened to you at lunch?”

“I forgot something I needed to get at the field house, sorry,” Lexa lied.

\------

Another long hard practice.  A few more days of this and Lexa might even get used to the hits.  She had Lincoln hang back with her to toss the ball a little bit in an attempt to avoid the cheerleaders.  Clarke had texted that Harper and Monty needed help with a geometry assignment and Clarke would catch up with them at home.

As Lexa entered the locker room, she didn’t see or hear anyone.  She breathed a sigh of relief.  She just wanted the day to end.  She went to her locker and stripped out of her uniform as quickly as she could.  She shoved everything in and grabbed her two towels and shower bag.  She dropped her boxer briefs and sports bra on the bench just inside the shower and went to turn the water on as hot as she could get it on the first shower head she came across.  

The hot water pounded against her skin, loosening her stiff muscles.  Lexa sighed happily and grabbed her body wash.  She soaped up and rinsed quickly.  Shampoo next.  She was rinsing out her hair when she thought she felt eyes on her again.  Lexa turned her back to the eyes and finished rinsing out her hair as fast as possible.  She heard someone walk into the shower area and uses both hand to cup and cover Alex.  She is afraid to look around, terrified someone saw her.  

A naked cheerleader walked right into her line of sight.  She turned on the shower and began rubbing herself all over.  Lexa recognizes her as a senior, but isn’t sure of her name.  The cheerleader reaches for her body wash and proceeds to soap up her body paying extra attention to rubbing her breasts suggestively while staring at the quarterback.  Lexa feels Alex starting to stir.  Getting a hard on in the middle of the day has never been an issue, she usually wakes to Alex at half mast but it passes after she pees.  This is different.  She panics, she can’t watch the girl, that’s not okay.  She can’t cope with Alex being so fucking rude.  And she absolutely can’t cope with someone finding out about Alex and making her life miserable.  Lexa turns around, keeps herself cupped and walks out to the bench where her towels are waiting.  She wraps one around her body and runs to her locker where she grabs clean underwear and clothes and locks herself in a bathroom stall to dress.

When she exits the bathroom fully clothed, the cheerleader is sitting on the bench in front of Lexa’s locker, still fully nude.

“You left these,” she holds up Lexa’s boxer briefs and sports bra.  Her shower bag is also on the bench next to the pretty dark skinned girl.  She’s not as pretty as Clarke, but her smile is nice.  And she does smile at Lexa, maybe it's more of a leer.

“Um, thanks,” Lexa takes her things and stuffs them in her locker.

“I’m Costia,” she stands and holds out her hand to the quarterback.

“Lexa,” she says not taking the offered hand.

“I know.  I hope to see more of you, pretty girl,” Costia says moving closer.

“Um.”  Lexa backs away.  “Okay, bye.”  She bolts for the door and runs all the way home.  Lincoln chasing her and complaining that he was going to have to take another shower.

She doesn’t go to Clarke’s to work on homework like she normally would.  She hides in her room and responds to texts with one word replies.  When Clarke tries to call she doesn’t answer and texts later that she was in the shower.

\------

**Wednesday**

The next morning it’s Lexa’s day to go to their locker before first period.  When she gets there she sees Finn lurking around.  She opens the locker and switches out the books they need for the morning.  Finn steps up behind her.

“I’m going out with Clarke and you need to back off.  You already stole my starting position, you can’t keep my girl from me,” Finn sneers.  

Lexa doesn’t even have words.  She closes her locker and walks away.  All day she barely speaks to Clarke.  Clarke looks at her like a scared puppy and Lexa guesses that she’s afraid to tell her that she didn’t want to be with Lexa after all.

\------

Lexa thinks that Coach Titus may hate her.  She fucking hurts.  She stayed and threw the ball with Lincoln again after practice.  Clarke had an eye doctor appointment right after 7th period so Jake had picked her up.  She waited even longer this time.  Lincoln got hungry and went home.  

Lexa headed to the girls locker room.  This time, she triple checked to make sure the locker room was empty before going to her locker and stripping down.  She gathered up the dirty laundry from the day before and stuffed it into her backpack.  She grabbed her towels and shower bag again and headed for the showers.  She turned the hot water all the way up and washed quickly.  She was lathering up her hair when Costia walked in naked again.  Lexa covered Alex with both hands leaving her breasts fully exposed, Costia made a point of taking in the view as she again, made quite the show of washing her breasts.  She even made a point of washing her pubic area and moaning in pleasure.  Lexa stood under the stream trying to rinse her hair without uncovering her hardening dick.

“You don’t have to hide it, Lexa,” Costia said, still making quite the show of rubbing her soapy breasts.  Lexa turned her back to the pretty cheerleader.  “I want you to look at me, Lexa.”  The quarterback looked back over her shoulder and Costia was pinching and rubbing her nipples.  She moaned in pleasure.  Lexa was having a very hard time keeping Alex covered.  “Let me see you, Lexa.”

Lexa panicked, she needed to get away from Costia as quickly as she could.  Lexa removed her hands from her crotch and exposed her fully erect penis keeping her back to the cheerleader.  She used her hands to quickly finish rinsing her hair and bolted from the showers.  She didn’t even try to dry herself, she pulled her boxer briefs and sports bra on over her wet skin.  It was a struggle, but Lexa managed.  She had her sweatpants on and was just pulling on her t-shirt when Costia came around the corner still naked.

“Lexa,” she smiled.  “I’m not going to tell anyone and I don’t have a problem with it.  It’s a huge turn on.”

“Um,” Lexa walked back to the shower area to grab her dirty laundry and shower bag.  She shoved them into her backpack and walked out of the girls locker room.

Later that night, Lexa laid in her bed alone, thinking of how her body reacted to Costia.  She didn’t react to Clarke that way.  It had always been a foregone conclusion that when Clarke and Lexa were ready, they would date each other.  Lexa loved Clarke with all her heart, but Lexa didn’t want Clarke the way her body wanted Costia, did she?  It was very confusing.  It was even more confusing that Finn was everywhere all the time flirting with Clarke.  Did Clarke like Finn?  Did she want Finn like Alex wanted Costia?

Lexa’s mind went back to the showers that afternoon and the way Costia moaned when she twisted her own nipple.  Alex was getting hard again.  That was new.  Lexa had never masturbated, she never wanted to and as yet, Alex hadn’t developed a mind of his own.  It looked like that had changed.  She lifted up her blankets and took note of her dick at full mast in her boxers.  “Fuck you,” she whispered at Alex.  It just stood there as if to say, _that’s the idea_.

\------

**Thursday**

Clarke was worried about Lexa, she only replied to Clarke’s texts that she was tired and just wanted to sleep.  She didn’t even send her usual goodnight text.  That morning they had walked to school mostly in silence.  Clarke had tried to start a conversation, but couldn’t get anywhere.  Lincoln felt the odd tension and chose not to mention it, they fought sometimes and he had learned that it was best to just mind his own business.  

It was Clarke’s day to make the morning locker trip so she went to their locker while Lexa headed to first period.  

While she was sorting books an arm appeared next to her, effectively pinning Clarke into her locker.  She turned around ready to Hulk out.  It was Finn, always fucking Finn, “Hey gorgeous,” he smiled that creepy smile.  “You’re going out with me tonight.”

“I don’t think so, Finn,” she told him trying to push his arm away.

“Oh, I do.  Because if you don’t, I’m going to tell everyone about your friend Lexa’s dick,” he smiled like he knew he won.  And he had.

 _Fuck_ , Clarke thought.  She felt tears burning her eyes.   _Fuck!_

“So, I’ll pick you up at seven,” it wasn’t a request, it wasn’t a question, it was an order.

Clarke felt sick.  She nodded and Finn walked away with a smile.  Clarke ran for the nearest girls bathroom and lost her breakfast.  She tried to pull herself together before running off to first period.  She made it in the door just before the tardy bell.  Lexa wouldn’t even look at her and Clarke didn’t know why.  She still placed her left hand palm up on Clarke’s desk as though nothing was off between them.

\------

“Gene is totally in love with Phineas,” Clarke was arguing.

“Can’t two guys just be friends?”  Jasper replied.

“Sure, but Gene wants Finny, emotionally, sexu - -,” Clarke was cut off.

“We get the idea, Miss Griffin,” Ms. Cartwig said.

“Finny seems pretty into Gene, too,” Harper added.

“If he’s in love with him, why does he knock him out of the tree?” Monty asked.

“Because he’s afraid.  People were still locking gay people up in asylums then!”  Clarke said.

“I think you’re reading too much into it,” Jasper said.

“You said that when I told you Dumbledore and Grindelwald were in love and I was right then, too,” Clarke pointed out.

“Do you have to bring that up every single time you decide there is gay subtext in a book?”  Jasper asked exasperated.

“Yes!”  Clarke said.  “Love is just that easy.  Someone that gets you and makes you feel strong and brave.  Someone who makes you want to do great and crazy things.  Someone who makes you laugh.”

“Love is not that simple,” Lexa snarked.  

It was the first time Clarke had really heard Lexa speak in two days, she was stunned into silence.

\------

Clarke, Lexa, and Harper ended up in the library.  They found a table in the back corner to occupy.  Clarke had spent the morning trying to figure out what to say to Lexa about Finn.  Finally, she just blurted it out.  “I’m going out with Finn tonight.”

Lexa looked like Clarke punched her in the gut.  “Are you fucking serious?  That’s what does it for you?”

Clarke doesn’t have the words, she didn’t know what she expected.  She didn’t expect Lexa to look at her like she had stabbed her, though.  “Lex?”

“You know what, fuck off,” Lexa is under way too much stress for this.  She’s spent the last seven years thinking that when they were ready Clarke would be her girlfriend and for the last couple of weeks she and Finn had been all over each other.  And now she has this really attractive girl that her body just wants.  Lexa doesn’t understand anything anymore.  “Enjoy your fucking boyfriend.”

Clarke is shocked.  “What?  Lexa?”

Lexa stormed off, she didn’t want to hear about Clarke’s feelings for Finn.  She hid out in the field house over lunch.  She couldn’t deal with Finn flirting with Clarke anymore, he had invaded their lunch table every day.

\-----------

Football practice is a bitch, Finn kept giving her knowing looks that made his intentions with Clarke crystal clear.  She took a hard hit to the side and was pretty sure it would leave a bruise.  She goes to the field house to ice it before going to the girls locker room.  She already knows that no matter what she does, Costia is going to show up and rub her breasts at her.  Lexa thinks, maybe today, she’ll watch.

Lexa strips at her locker wrapping a clean towel around her.  She walks into the shower and turns the water up as high as it will go.  She drops her towel on the bench and steps under the spray.  She scrubs away the sweat and grime of the field.  She washes and rinses her hair and just when she thinks Costia won’t show, the cheerleader walks in and gets right under the same shower head Lexa was under.  

Lexa backed away and tried to cover herself, Costia caught her hands and made quite a show of looking Lexa up and down.  “You’re really hot, pretty girl.”

Lexa looked Costia over, and swallowed.  She wasn't comfortable with this, in fact, she was terrified.  “Um.”

Alex had started to harden the moment Costia stepped into the spray, now he was fully erect.  He wasn’t a particularly spectacular specimen of penis.  Only about six inches fully erect, not particularly thick either.  But the look in Costia’s eye kept Lexa from feeling inadequate.  “I can help you with that.”

Lexa turned her back to Costia and tried to step away.  Costia stepped forward and pressed her breasts to Lexa’s back.  “Are you sure I can’t help?”

Lexa shuddered.  Costia took that as permission and put her hands on Lexa’s sides and pulled her closer.  She ground herself against Lexa’s ass.  “Let me help you,” Costia whispered in Lexa’s ear.

Lexa shuddered again and nodded, what else could she do.  She felt Costia’s hands slip around and stroke her penis, she stroked and squeezed expertly.  She ground herself against Lexa’s ass every few strokes.  It didn’t take long for Lexa to cum, Costia either didn't notice or didn't care about the tears in her eyes.

“That’s a good girl,” Costia whispered, holding her up.  “Why don't you touch me now?”

Lexa nodded, unable to speak.  Costia spun her around and reached for Lexa’s hands.  She placed them on her breasts and helped Lexa start to massage them.  Costia moaned.  Lexa felt Alex starting to recover.  Costia pulled Lexa out of the shower, she grabbed both of their towels from the bench and led her into the cheerleaders storage closet. The practice mats were stacked neatly inside.  Costia spread the towels onto them and laid back on them with her knees up and spread.  

Lexa was frozen.  “Come on, pretty girl.”

“I- I don’t, I- I’ve nev- never,” Lexa stammered.

Costia smiled, “You’re a virgin?”

Lexa nodded.

“It’s okay, pretty girl.  I’m on the pill.  Now come to me,” Costia soothed.

Lexa always thought the first time she did this would be with Clarke.  The thought that it wasn’t made her ripped her insides apart.  It made her angry to think of Finn touching Clarke like she was about to touch Costia.  The idea strengthened her resolve, she could finish this, she certainly couldn't find a way out of it.  Costia would just keep coming back until she got what she wanted.  Lexa climbed up on the mats and hovered over the cheerleader with tears in her eyes.  “I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s okay, pretty girl, I’ll guide you.”  Costia slid her hand between them and guided Lexa to her entrance.  It was hot and wet and Lexa's body reacted, her stomach was churning so much she wanted to throw up.  “I need you to push your hips in now, okay.”

Lexa nodded and did as she was told.  Costia enveloped her and it felt both wonderful and horrible.  Costia moaned.  Lexa felt sick, she didn’t know if it was the dysphoria or Clarke that made her not want to be here doing this, she just knew she hated it.  “Rock your hips now, in and out, okay?”

Lexa nodded and did as told.  Physically it was amazing, but the biggest part of her wanted to throw up.  “There you go.  Oh that’s nice,” Costia encouraged.  

Lexa felt a tightness in her groin like she had felt in the shower.  Before she knew what had happened, she was coming inside Costia.  She fell forward onto Costia, horrified.  She tried to pull out, but Costia wrapped her legs around her.  “It’s okay, pretty girl.  You’ll get hard again and you can keep going.  Play with my tits, I know you like them.”

They were very nice tits, big for a cheerleader.  Soft and supple, so why did she hate the feel of them?  Lexa started to rub them and thumb at her nipples.  She felt Alex, traitorous bastard that he was, starting to get hard again inside of Costia.  “See, I told you,” she smiled encouragingly.  “The perks of being young.”

The cheerleader coaxed her into movement and Lexa started rocking her hips again.  “Harder now,” Costia instructed.  Lexa obliged.  Costia moaned and it spurred Lexa on. she pushed her hips harder and deeper into Costia, hoping to end this sooner.  After several more moments of pumping her hips she felt Costia start to flutter around Alex.  Lexa started to come again and Costia clamped and fluttered around her dick.  Costia moaned in pleasure, Lexa cried.

Lexa collapsed onto Costia and tried to shake the feeling of shame and sickness that was crushing her.

“You did very well, pretty girl,” Costia complimented.

Lexa pulled away and climbed off the mat.  She left her towel and walked naked across the locker room to her locker and got dressed.  She grabbed her backpack and ran home.  Once home she locked herself in her bathroom, vomited into the toilet, got into the shower, and cried.

\------

Clarke didn’t know what Finn had planned, so she made a plan of her own, she didn’t want to be alone anywhere with him.  She had Monty and Harper come over after school to go with them.  

Finn pulled up outside in his car, Clarke, Monty, and Harper walked outside and got in the car.

“My parents wouldn’t let me go out without another couple,” she shrugged.

Finn put an arm around her, “Are we a couple now?”

“Seems that way doesn’t it,” Clarke said with venom.

They went to the movies, Finn put his arm around her and groped at her breast.  Clarke felt sick.  When he took the three of them back to her house he pulled her in for a sloppy kiss, Finn forced his tongue into her mouth.  Clarke hated him.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not angst when it's a felony.
> 
> Also, if you're going to comment to tell me you're pissed because they aren't each other's first, don't bother. You either read the next chapter or you don't. I'm happy with how the story came out. If you would like to further discuss what happened in one of the threads below I'll be more than happy to hear it after you read the next chapter.


	15. September 2008: Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Putting this one up early and only partially edited in response to a great many comments.

**Friday**

Clarke doesn’t see Lexa outside of class, she looks green and won’t even give Clarke her hand to fidget with.  Clarke is tapping and pacing.  By third period she’s disruptive.

Lexa just wants to throw up.  Clarke just wants to throw up.  Neither have any idea what the other is feeling.  It’s the first time in years that they’ve gone without talking for a day.

Lexa throws an incredible football game for feeling as awful as she does.  She can still lose herself in the game.  On the field, she doesn’t think about Finn’s hands on Clarke.  On the field she doesn’t think about what she did with Costia in the field house the day before. She threw a 43 yard touchdown pass to win the game.  She was a hero.  She didn’t feel like a hero.  

After the game, she staggers into the field house where Costia is waiting for her.    _Fuck_ , Lexa tries to back out.  

“Don’t run away from me again, pretty girl,” Costia coos.

“I can’t, please,” Lexa begs.

Costia looks disappointed, “I think you’re just tired.  Why don’t you go to this party with me, everyone is going to be there.  It’s kind of expected that we show up together, the quarterback and the head cheerleader.  We’ve got to meet our stereotype quota.”

Lexa's not sure agreeing was the right course of action, but she knew Lincoln would be there.

\------

The big party is at the house of a junior named Raven.  Costia brings Lexa, Finn brings Clarke, Lincoln is there with Luna.  The alcohol is free flowing.  Clarke sees Costia pull Lexa into a corner to feel her up, she doesn't notice Lexa's discomfort.  Clarke manages to keep Finn in the main room of the house, but it’s getting more difficult.  He pushes her against a wall and grinds against her.  “Finn, stop.”  He backs off and goes to find another drink.  When he returns, he hands her a drink, she’s prepared to give it a hard pass when she sees Costia with her hands on Lexa, again.  She takes the drink and chugs it down.

She starts to feel weird, she’s not sure it’s the alcohol and she’s scared.  She’s looking around for Lexa or anyone she knows but doesn’t see anyone.  She’s terrified and feels unable to do anything about it.  Finn begins to forcibly guide her toward the stairs.

“Looks like Costia is getting ready to fuck your friend, again.  She told me my dick is bigger than Lexa’s,”  Finn whispers in her ear.  “I used to fuck her before she decided she needed to fuck your tranny friend.  Lexa has taken enough from me, I'm going to take something from her.”

Clarke is crying, she can feel the tears on her face and then she is holding onto the banister and she can’t feel Finn touching her. Her vision is blurred, but she can hear the sound of fists meeting flesh, she tries to look around to see.  She makes out a shape that she thinks is Lexa pinning a shape that she thinks is Finn to the floor and punching him.  There are a lot of voices and Clarke can’t make anything out.

“Get off me you tranny slut!”  Finn growled.  “Yeah, Costia told me all about you.”

“Lex, we need to get Clarke to the hospital.”  It’s was Lincoln’s voice.  “I’ll deal with him, you take care of her.”

Another female voice that Clarke doesn’t know, “I already called the police, they’re sending an ambulance.”

Clarke felt Lexa’s hands on her.  She would know those hands anywhere.  “Clarke,” Lexa’s voice was shaking.  Clarke couldn’t see and she couldn’t speak, but she knew it was Lexa and she was safe.  She felt Lexa checking to ensure that she was not physically harmed.  Then she felt Lexa’s arms slip around her and hold her tight.  “I’m so sorry, Clarke,” she heard the tears in Lexa’s voice.  

The light changed.  Lexa had carried her from a dark place, to a light place, then to a place where the lights were crazy.  Clarke felt hands on her that weren’t Lexa’s.  She tried to move away, but she couldn’t.  She felt the quarterback shift her.  She didn’t know how Lexa knew, but she did, “Don’t touch her unless you talk to her.”

“What’s her name?”  It was a male voice, Clarke was terrified again.  Lexa had her, right?  Lexa wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.

Lexa’s voice was strong, “Clarke, her name is Clarke and I ride with her.”

“Okay, Clarke, I need to get you into the rig and hooked up to an IV to help flush the drug, you're overdosing.  I’m an EMT, okay?” Clarke couldn’t respond but Lexa lifted her up onto a flat padded surface.

“I’m right here, Clarke,” Lexa had her hand.  She felt herself move up and back.  Lexa held her hand the whole time.  She felt someone that wasn’t Lexa grasp her left forearm.

“She’s left handed,” Lexa’s voice was shaky again.  Her left arm dropped and her right arm was grasped and she felt a pinch.  Suddenly it got very loud, a siren blared right on top of her.  “I’m here, Clarke, stay with me,” Lexa cried.  Clarke was trying, but between the heaviness and the noise it was hard to not just check out.

It was loud for a long time.  She felt Lexa holding her hand and heard her sobs.  The siren stopped and she was being jostled again.  

“CLARKE!”  It was her mother’s voice.

\------

“Lexa, what happened?”  Abby asked frantic.  Lexa couldn’t speak, she could only sob uncontrollably.  

“Are you the mother,” the Latina from the party asked.  Lexa thought she might be the girl whose house it was.

Abby nodded, “You are?”

“I’m Raven, it was my house, I can tell you what happened, part of it anyway,” she was a young Latina with long dark hair.  “Me and a couple of other people saw Finn drop two pills into a drink, we didn’t know who it was for, but I followed him and saw him giving it to her.  She looked mad about something and drank the whole thing before I could get to her to warn her.”

Lexa sobbed loudly, Jake grabbed her before she could drop to the floor.  

“I started asking around to see who knew her and saw that one,” Raven pointed at Lexa, “Pushing her way across the room and kicking Finn’s ass.  That’s when I found Lincoln.”

Lexa felt a pinch.  “Valium,” the doctor with the syringe told Jake.  “Low dose, she’ll calm down in a minute.”

Lexa did the opposite of calm down, she roared.  Rage, frustration, and fear pouring out of her.

Jake wrapped his arms tightly around her and held on while she thrashed, “Lexa, you have to calm down or they’ll strap you to a bed and send you up to psych.  Breath with me, Muppet.  In, out,” he breathed slowly.  He pulled her into an empty exam room.  “In, out,” he repeated until Lexa could control herself.

“Can you tell me what happened?”  He asked when she was calmer.  

“It’s all my fault, Jake.  It’s all my fault,” Lexa told him everything.  Everything.  Things Jake would prefer never knowing.  “Costia told him about me.  I’m so stupid, Jake.  I’m so stupid.  I can’t believe I did this.  I did this!  I DID THIS!”  Lexa started to lose it again.  

Jake managed to get hold of her again.  “You didn’t do this, Lex.”

“I did, it’s all my fault!”  Lexa was sobbing again.

Abby opened the exam room door and took in the sight of hysterical Lexa and Jake holding on to her for dear life.  She disappeared for a moment and reappeared with another syringe.  She injected Lexa with a little more Valium.  “Lexa, the police are here and need a statement from you,” Abby told her.  “Clarke needs you to calm down.”

Like a switch was flipped, Lexa got control of herself.  She followed Abby back out into the ER.  She gave the uniformed officer her statement about the party, he told her that Finn was arrested for possession of rohypnol with intent to distribute.  He was going to prison for a really long time.  She saw the girl whose house the party was at standing off in a corner.  When the policeman told her they had enough information she looked around for Jake and Abby again.  She found Anya, Gus, and Indra.

“What did you do, Lex?”  Lexa grabbed her sister and cried.  Through her sobs she took all of the blame without telling Anya what she did.  She couldn’t bear to disappoint Anya.  

Jake appeared behind her.  “She’s awake, Lex, she’s asking for you.”

Lexa pushed away from Anya and ran in the direction she knew Clarke was in.  She saw her, laid on the hospital bed looking pale and scared.  Their eyes found each other and Lexa found the peace she had spent all week missing.  She was still drowning in guilt and self loathing, but she would be okay as long as Clarke was okay.  She was afraid to move closer to Clarke until the blonde reached for her.  Lexa moved against the gurney so that Clarke could reach her.  Clarke pulled her onto the gurney to lie with her.  Lexa complied, it was the least she could do.

They slept and never said a word.  A couple hours later the hospital released them to go home with Abby.  

\-----

It was after 3am when Lexa followed Clarke into her bedroom.

“I want to shower, I can still smell him,” Clarke said in a hoarse monotone.

“I’ll get you some clean clothes,” Lexa told her.  She had to be strong for Clarke.

Clarke nodded and walked into her bathroom and closed the door.  Lexa looked around the room, wondering what she could do to help.  She stripped the blankets from the bed and she re-arranged the room so that the mattress, television, and DVD player are down on the floor in a blanket fort.  She located of all of her and Clarke’s favorite movies and stacked them on the DVD player in the fort.  She hears the shower still running and goes downstairs to stock up on snacks and drinks in a cooler.  When she gets back upstairs she hears the shower still running.

“Clarke,” Lexa knocks gently on the bathroom door.  There is no answer.  “Clarke, I’m coming in, tell me no if you don’t want me to come in.”  There was no sound other than the shower running.  Lexa tried the handle and was surprised to find it unlocked.  She pushed to door open slowly and saw Clarke sitting in the tub, crying, and letting the now cold water spray over her.

“I couldn’t do anything, Lex,” Clarke sobbed.  “I was powerless.  I still don’t feel like I’m in control.”

“Do you need help?”

Clarke sobbed and nodded.  Before long Lexa, fully dressed, was standing in the shower holding Clarke upright and helping to scrub every inch of her with a soapy loofa.  Clarke’s skin was red and raw before Clarke would let them stop.

Lexa leaves the bathroom, dripping water everywhere, to get some of Clarke’s dry clothes to change into.  She comes back and Clarke is sitting on the edge of the tub still dripping wet and out of it.  Lexa tries to choke back the sob that climbs up her throat but fails spectacularly.  Clarke reached for her without looking up.  Lexa dropped to her knees in front of Clarke and they wrapped their arms  around each other.  They were both still soaked, Lexa more so because her clothes were soaked from scrubbing Clarke.  Clarke didn’t care that Lexa was cold and wet instead of the warm steady presence she loved so much.  The air conditioner came on and blew directly down onto Lexa who first sprouted goosebumps all over, then began to shiver.  She continued to hold Clarke tightly despite her chill.  As her shivers became more violent Clarke pulled at Lexa’s shirt, she didn’t have words, only tears, but she understood that Lexa was cold because she was kneeling on the floor in wet clothes.

Lexa pulled away from Clarke and tried to make eye contact.  Clarke just tugged at the hem of her shirt.  “Clarke?”  Lexa tried to get her attention to no avail.  “Clarke, I’m not--. I don’t feel comfortable--. Considering what happened--.  Clarke, I don’t want you --.”

Clarke slapped her.  It wasn’t a gentle teasing slap, Lexa’s cheek burned and tingled.  “Clarke?”

Clarke found words in her anger, they were broken by sobs, but she found her words.  “I know you don’t want me,” hitching breaths.  “You made that clear, but you don’t get to tell me that right now when I need you to be _my_ Lexa.”

“Clarke,” Lexa breathed.  Clarke didn’t want _her_ anymore, not the other way around, right?

“No,” Clarke said firmly.  “You don’t get to talk now.  I need you to pretend that you still love me and hold me and make me feel safe.”

“Clarke, I’ll always love you, I don’t have to pretend,” Lexa said so softly that Clarke wasn’t sure she’d heard it until she saw a silent tear roll down Lexa’s cheek.

Green met blue and the violent storms of emotion that had been raging around them began to still.  “We need to get dried off,” Lexa found her voice.  She looked around for the pajamas she had brought into the room for Clarke.  She looked at Clarke’s still dripping hair and reached for a towel instead.  She carefully toweled the blonde dry avoiding _delicate_ areas.  Their eyes never left each other.  Lexa’s eyes grounded Clarke, she was safe as long as she could look into Lexa’s big green eyes.

Lexa reached for the sleeping shirt she brought in for Clarke and showed it to the blonde seeking cooperation.  Clarke held her arms up and Lexa slipped the shirt sleeves over them and down her arms, over her still damp hair and left it to let gravity pull it the rest of the way down the blonde’s torso.  Next she reached for the underwear.  She had grabbed a pair of Clarke’s Superman boxer briefs and showed them to Clarke, again seeking cooperation.  Clarke lifted one foot, then the other and allowed Lexa to pull them up her legs.  Clarke stood and let Lexa pull them the rest of the way up.  Their eyes were still locked together, Clarke didn’t feel naked or vulnerable, she felt safe.  Still a little disoriented from the drug, but safe.  She knew Lexa would never look at her without being expressly instructed to do so.  Lexa was her safe place.

She took a moment to contemplate the drowned rat of a girl in front of her, she pulled Lexa to her feet.  She again grabbed the hem of Lexa’s soaked shirt and this time the brunette cooperated and allowed Clarke to peel it off of her.  Clarke threw the dripping cotton into the bathtub without looking away from Lexa’s eyes.  She unbuttoned Lexa’s jeans and reached for the zipper before Lexa’s hands stopped her.  She swayed on her feet and Lexa caught her before she could fall.  The tears started again.  Lexa held Clarke while trying to keep her soaked bottom half away from the blonde.  Lexa quickly shifted Clarke and lifted her bridal style and carried her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.  She carefully knelt down and pulled back the sheet to allow Clarke to climb into the blanket fort.  “Get in and get comfortable, I’m going to find some dry clothes.”  

Clarke slipped out of Lexa’s arms  and into the blanket fort, but didn’t climb further than the opening.  She turned around and looked at Lexa standing and moving to the dresser.  She knew that Lexa hated to be watched while she changed.  Clarke knew that watching Lexa change was a violation, but she needed to see her, if she lost sight of Lexa she was going to slip into the darkness that threatened to swallow her whole.  Lexa peeled off her wet jeans with a great deal of effort.  She was bent standing on one leg trying to force them over her foot when she saw Clarke watching her.  “Clarke,” Lexa said.

“I’m sorry,” Clarke cried.  “I need to be able to see you.  I won’t look at you, but I need to see you, I need to know you’re here.”  Lexa nodded her understanding and continued to force off her wet jeans.  She had a drawer at Clarke’s, it had underwear, pajamas, sweats, and t-shirts.  If Lexa had looked through the rest Clarke’s drawers she would find several t-shirts and sweatshirts she had ‘misplaced’ over the years.  Sometimes when Clarke slept alone she wore them to feel close to Lexa.

Lexa pulled out a pair of plain white boxer briefs, a sleeping shirt, and a pair of sweat shorts.  “Clarke, if I talk to you can you close your eyes?”

“Okay,” Clarke closed her eyes.

“I’m still here, Clarke.”  Clarke heard the effort in Lexa’s voice as she peeled off the wet sports bra.  “I’m not going anywhere.” A grunt followed by the wet slap of fabric hitting the bathroom floor after being flung across the room.  “Did you know that houseflies hum in the key of F?”  Another wet slap on the bathroom floor.

“Really?”  Clarke asked.

“Really, so the next time you hear ‘House of the Rising Sun’ imagine it performed by flies.”

“Why do you know that?”  Clarke asked.

“I used to have a lot of time to just read things on the internet.”  Lexa told her.  Clarke could hear the smile in her voice.  “Is that my Redskins hoodie under your bed?”

“It might be,” Clarke said.

“I’ve been looking for that.”  Lexa sighed.  “You can open your eyes.”

Clarke did and took in Lexa pulling her wet curls into a tight bun.  She would regret that later, Clarke knew.  “Scoot in,” she said as she knelt to crawl into the blanket fort.

They climb into the blanket fort and started _The Blues Brothers_.  They cuddle up with Clarke as the front spoon.  They don’t talk about it.  They don’t talk about Costia.  They fall asleep with Lexa’s arms around Clarke and Clarke holding Lexa’s arms against her.

\------

Clarke awakes in the late morning to Alex against her butt.  Even though she’s felt it hundreds of  times before, Clarke scrambles away.  Lexa opens her eyes at the activity and blearily takes in the scene.

“Oh,” Lexa scrambles out of the blanket fort.  “”It’s okay Clarke, Alex needs to pee.  I’m going to go take care of it, okay?”  Lexa goes into the bathroom and pees standing up she doesn’t do it often, but it’s faster sometimes.  She flushes and readjusts her sleep shorts and underwear around her now flaccid member before walking back into the bedroom and kneeling to look in the blanket fort.  

Clarke was curled in a ball, crying silently.  “Can I come in Clarke?”  

Clarke nods.  

Lexa’s crawls in.  “Can I hug you, Clarke?”  

Clarke nods again and allows Lexa to lie down and curl around her like a dragon guarding her treasure hoard.  Lexa knowing Clarke the way she does, doesn’t try to talk or ask questions.  She only holds her, occasionally pressing a soft kiss to the back of Clarke’s head, murmuring softly “you’re safe” and “I love you” from time to time until the tears subside.

Sometime later, there is a gentle knock at the door.  “Clarke, Lexa are you hungry?”  It was Jake asking from the other side of the door.  

Clarke shook her head no but otherwise did not shift.  “We’re fine, Jake.”  Lexa called back as softly as she could and still be heard.

“Okay,” he called back.  Defeat and sadness heavy in his tone.  “We’ll be here if you need anything.”

Lexa suddenly understood why Clarke didn’t want to see her parents.  Clarke can’t stand to be looked at as damaged goods.  She resolved to talk to them as soon as Clarke fell asleep again.  

\------

Jake was in his office playing Everquest.  “Jake,” Lexa spoke softly.

“Hey, Muppet,” he said kindly.  “What do you need?”

“To talk.”

Jake logged out of his game and nodded to the cushy armchair by the shelves.  Lexa sat in it while Jake rolled his office chair over.

“I’m listening,” he said as he sat back down.

“You can’t look at Clarke like she’s broken,” Lexa blurted.  “I know it’s my fault and I broke her, but you can’t treat her like she’s broken.”

Jake sighed, “You didn’t break her, Lexa.”

“I did and I don’t . . .”  Lexa didn’t have the words.  “Why did I do that?”

“Why did you do what?”  Jake asked cautiously.

“Why did I have sex with Costia?”

She wasn’t aware that she was crying but Jake saw the fat silent tears.  

“I wanted to do it, at least my body did.  But I felt so sick.  I told myself it was the dysphoria that made me feel so sick and not want to do it.  But I knew, really, that I felt sick because of Clarke.”

Jake took a deep breath, he was going to ask a question he knew as a father he didn’t want the answer to, “Did you want to do that with Clarke?”

Lexa’s eyes were the size of saucers, she had big green anime eyes on a normal day, when confronted with sexual feelings about the girl she had loved since she was seven they were huge.  “No?”

“Was that a question?”

“I love her, I never want to be without her,” Lexa steeled herself to for her next words.  “I never even thought about Clarke in a sexual way until I was with Costia.  And then it was only regret that my first experience wasn’t with Clarke.”  Lexa cried, her tears weren’t silent this time.  

Jake put a gentle hand on her shoulder.  “I’m very glad that you don’t see my baby girl as a piece of meat.”

“I feel so awful.  Tainted,” Lexa cried.  “I ruined everything because I was jealous and stupid.”

“I don’t think you ruined anything,” Jake told her.  “I think you’re both going to have a lot to work through, now.  Lexa, what happened to you, that’s not how it’s supposed to go.”

They talked for a long time about what had happened and Lexa’s feelings and impulses.

“I should get back before she wakes up,” Lexa tells Jake after a long silence.  She has a lot to think about.

“She’s my baby, Lexa,” Jake told her.  “And you’re my eventual-daughter-in-law, I love you both so much.”

“I know, Jake.”

\------

When Lexa climbed back into the blanket fort, Clarke stirred.  “Where did you go?”

“I needed to talk to Jake.”  She spooned Clarke and wrapped her arm around her again.

Clarke grunted acknowledgment.  There was a long silence.

“I think we need to annex the bathroom,” Lexa said.

They spent the rest of Saturday curled up together watching movies in the blanket fort.  They eat the snacks Lexa had carried up stairs and drink the beverages in the cooler.

\------

On Sunday morning, Clarke again wakes to Alex and has a smaller freak out than the previous morning.  

Jake brought pancakes up and left them outside the door.  Clarke wasn’t ready to see him.  After eating, they curled back up in the blanket fort.

“You’re starting to smell a little,” Clarke said.

“Are you going to be okay if I go take a shower?”

Clarke nodded and Lexa climbed out of the blanket fort to collect fresh clothes and shower in Clarke’s bathroom.  She washed herself with Clarke’s berry scented soap and washed her thick curls with Clarke’s berry scented shampoo and conditioner.

She finished up her shower, dried and dressed herself and went back out into Clarke’s bedroom.

“Your phone keeps getting texts,” Clarke tells her.

Lexa doesn’t care.  The only person she wants to talk to is right here.

“Aren’t you going to check it?”

“If it was my parents your parents would have said something.  If it was Anya, she’d be here by now.”  Lexa’s phone chimed as if to say _just in case you forgot about me_.

“Don’t you want to know who it is?”

“Don’t care, all I care about is laying here with you and watching Mel Brooks movies.”

“Who is it, Lexa?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t checked.”

“Are you going to?”

“Don’t care to.”  Lexa was the master of the circular argument with Clarke.

“Lexa.”  Clarke pulled away and rolled over to face Lexa.

“Clarke.”

Lexa’s phone chimed another text.

“Goddammit, Lexa.”  Clarke reached for Lexa’s phone and shoved it under her nose.

“I don’t care what she has to say, Clarke.”

“Why did you fuck her then?”  Lexa shrank, as long and gangly as Lexa was it was incredible how small she could make herself seem.

“Clarke,” Lexa said softly.  Her phone chimed again, she turned it off.

Clarke had worked up a good head of steam, though.  “Am I really that unappealing to you?”

“Not at all Clarke.  I thought you wanted him,” Lexa couldn’t look at Clarke, she couldn’t even say his name.

“I didn’t want him, I hate him,” Clarke cried.  “I hated him the first time I met him.”

“Then why did you agree to go out with him?”  Lexa was crying too.  Better to get it all out now.

“Because the last time someone found out about Alex you moved a thousand miles away!  I can’t be that far away from you again!  I know you don’t love me like I love you, but I can’t lose you!”

“I do love you, Clarke.”

“Then why did you fuck that cum dumpster!”  She was getting to the point where Hulking out was a very real possibility.

“Because I’m stupid.”

Clarke just stops mid-rage.  “What?”

“Because I’m stupid, Clarke.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I.  Can you listen?  Please just listen and try not to get angry at me until I’m done talking.  I’m so stupid and everything is my fault.”  Lexa tells Clarke about Costia in the showers and everything that happened after.  Clarke manages to contain her rage until Lexa finishes explaining her talk with Jake and how happy Jake was that Lexa didn’t look at Clarke like a piece of meat.

“Are you finished?”  Clarke asked after Lexa had been silent for several moments.

“Yes.  Are you mad?”

“Furious, but not at you.  You were stupid.”

“I know.”

“She took advantage of you, Lex.  What she did was as bad as what Finn tried to do to me.”

The more Lexa thought about it, the worse she felt.  “I’m so, so stupid.  What can I do to make it up to you, Clarke?”

“You don’t have to make anything up to me, Lex.  Just hold me.”

“I can do that,” Lexa repositioned and pulled Clarke against her.  Clarke felt Lexa’s arms tighten around her back and tucked her head under Lexa’s chin.  Lexa kissed the top of her head, “I love you, Clarke.  I’m so sorry that I caused this.”  Fat tears rolled down her cheeks

“You didn’t, Lex.  Stop blaming yourself.”

“I did!  I got jealous, if I had just talked to you none of this would have happened.  It’s all my fault.”

“Then promise me you will always talk to me about what you’re feeling.”

Lexa sobbed.  Clarke had always thought Lexa was the most beautiful girl in the world, but Lexa was an ugly crier.

“I don’t blame you, Lex,” Clarke said.  “I am angry, though.”

“None of this would have happened--”

“Lexa, I’m angry because I wanted those experiences with you and she stole them!”

Lexa is stunned.  “You did?”

“Of course I did!  Ever since that kiss in the airport.  I didn’t understand those feelings, but I really wanted to touch your butt,” Clarke blushed.

“My butt?”

“It’s a nice butt, Lex,” Clarke told her.  “I’ve spent a lot of time appreciating it.  Certainly the nicest butt in our school.”

“Clarke,” Lexa blushed.

“After the other night. . . I think it’s going to be a long time, Lex. . . but you’re who I’ve always wanted to be with.  I wanted all of those firsts with you,”  Clarke is crying again.  “I still want my firsts to be with you.”

Lexa held her tighter and kissed the top her head.

“I’ve been in love with you since I was seven,” Lexa told her.  “I’ve never--.  I don’t-- I didn’t think about sex.  Maybe because it would force me to think about my anatomy.  But I never thought about doing those things with you.”  She felt Clarke stiffen.  “It’s not that I didn’t want to, I just didn’t think about it.  I regret everything with Costia, those firsts should have been yours.  I wish I could take it all back.”

A soft knock on the door and Jake’s voice, “Commander, call your father.”

“Ok, Jake,” she called back.

Lexa found her phone under Clarke and turned it back on, 71 Unread Messages.  two from Anya, one from Indra, three from Gus, one from Jake, the rest were from Costia.  Lexa thought about deleting the messages from her, but thought she should ask Indra first.  She opened Indra’s text first.

 **Indra:**  Finn is locked up at county, he’ll be arraigned Monday morning.  Neither of you need to be there.  I am Clarke’s attorney of record.  Call or text if either of you need anything.

Lexa showed it to Clarke.

 **Lexa:**  Thank you, Indra.  I have a bunch of texts from Costia that I haven’t read.  Do you want to go through them before I delete them in case there is anything you can use?

 **Indra:**  I’ll be over to get the phone in a few minutes.  You and I need to talk about Costia.  Call your father.

She opened Jake’s text, he wanted to know if they wanted to order a pizza for lunch, it was two hours old.

She read Gus’ texts quickly before calling him.

 _“Hey, Monkey,”_ he answered.

“Hey, Poppa Bear,” Lexa said.

 _“I’m glad you talked to someone even if it wasn’t me,”_ Gus told her.

“I’m sorry, Dad.  I messed everything up.  I couldn’t look you in the eye and tell you how stupid I was.”  Lexa was lying on her back with tears leaking down the side of her face.  She felt Clarke scoot in closer to her and gently kiss her shoulder.

 _“You’re not stupid, Monkey,”_ he told her.   _“I made an appointment for you to get tested.”_

“Oh shit,” Lexa blurted.

 _“Yeah,”_ Gus said.  _“Tomorrow at 2, Indra will take you after the arraignment.”_

“Dad, I--,” Lexa couldn’t find the words.

 _“I know, Monkey, you’re my little girl and I love you no matter what you do,”_ he soothed.   _“Take care of each other, we’ll talk more tomorrow.”_

“I love you too, Dad,” she said softly and ended the call.

“I have to get tested for STDs,” Lexa had never been more humiliated in her entire life.  Not even Bellamy shouting about her dick was as humiliating as having to get tested for STDs at fifteen because she’s stupid.

Clarke wrapped her arms around Lexa and hugged her close while she cried.  The sobs had tapered off when Indra knocked on the door.  “Clarke, Lexa?”

“Come in,” Clarke called. They didn’t break up their cuddle.

Indra was both impressed and confused by the blanket fort that took up most of the room.  She bent down and looked inside.  “This is bigger than the one you built at the cabin.”

“Lexa built it,” Clarke said.  “It has cable.”

“I can see that,” Indra said. “We need to talk about a few things.”

“We’re not coming out of the blanket fort,” Clarke told her.  “You can come in.”

Indra made a face at them and climbed in sitting cross legged on the mattress.  “First, Lexa, I need your phone.”  Lexa handed it over and Indra read through the texts.  She saved them to the phone and dropped it in her purse.  She pulled out a new phone and SIM card and handed them to Lexa.  “I have to enter that one into evidence.”

Lexa took the new phone and looked it over.

“Lexa,” Indra approached the next sentence as delicately as she could.  “I need to know if you want to press rape charges against Costia?”

“What?”  That was the last thing she expected her step-mother to ask.

“Costia is over seventeen, under Louisiana law, what happened is statutory rape.  Jake told me what happened, whether you thought so or not, you were coerced.”

“I can’t--.  I--.  I can’t even think about that Indra, I just want to forget it,” Lexa told her with tears pouring out of her eyes.

“Okay, Lex,”  Indra told her.  “Okay.”

Clarke played with her curls until she calmed down.

“Clarke,” Indra said after a few minutes.  “Finn Collins is going to prison for a long time.  There were a lot of witnesses and the police found the rohypnol on him and in your blood.  You will not be asked to testify.”

Clarke let out the breath she had been holding.

Indra started to extricate herself from the blanket fort. “Lexa, I will pick you up here tomorrow at 1:30.  Gus made the appointment with your doctor so it won’t be any more uncomfortable than it has to be.”

“We’re not going to school?”  Lexa asked.

“I was informed on my arrival that neither of you were leaving the blanket fort to talk to me, did you _want_ to go to school tomorrow?”

“No,” Clarke and Lexa said together.

“Then you’ll go back when you’re ready to go back,” Indra told them and slipped out of the room.

\------

They watched another movie before Clarke’s stomach growled.  Lexa checked the snack bag, all that was left was a small bag of potato chips.

“One of us has to go on a supply run,” Lexa said.

Clarke dug around and found her phone.  She sent a quick text.

Clarke’s phone reminded her of her new phone and she opened it up, put in the new SIM card, and turned it on.

Clarke’s phone chimed.  “Dad’s ordering pizza, he wants to know if you want hot wings.”

“Probably not in the blanket fort,” Lexa replied.  She sent a text to Clarke’s phone.

Clarke checked it and smiled.

 **Lexa:** Hey Sunshine.

 **Clarke:**  Sunshine, huh?

 **Lexa:**  You are my Sunshine, my only Sunshine.

“You make me happy, when skies are gray,” Lexa sang.

Clarke laughed.  “I love you, Lex.”

“I love you, Sunshine.”

\------

When the pizza arrived Jake knocked.  Clarke climbed out of the blanket fort and opened the door.  

Jake was surprised that Clarke opened the door, he hadn’t seen her since she walked up the stairs in the early hours of Saturday.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Jake was surprised enough to see her that his sadness over what had happened didn’t have a chance to slip out.  He could see the wariness in Clarke’s eyes and realized that whether everything was normal or not, Clarke needed him to act like it was.  “Large supreme with extra olives,” he held out the pizza.

Clarke took it from him with a smile.  “Thank you, Dad.”

He picked up the small cooler full of drinks he had sat down to knock.  “If I were to buy you a mini fridge, would you ever come down for dinner again?”

“Of course I would, Dad.  I like the company.”

“That’s quite the blanket fort,” he observed.  “Where’s your television?”

“In the blanket fort,” Lexa called.

“With the DVD player,” Clarke added.

“Okay, sweetheart,” he smiled.  “Text me if you need me.”

“I will, Dad.”

\------

Monday morning Lexa went downstairs in search of breakfast to take up to Clarke.  Jake had taken the day off in case Clarke or Lexa needed him.

“How is she?”  Jake asked.

“Only a minor freakout over Alex this morning, so improving.  I don’t think she’ll be ready to go back to school tomorrow, but she might come downstairs for dinner tonight.”

“I’ll make a lasagna,” he said.  “How are you?”

“I have to go get tested for STDs today, so pretty shitty actually.”

“I’ll excuse your language because you’ve had a really bad week.”

“I’m sorry, Jake.  I really don’t mean any disrespect but I’m just really angry and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Do you really think you could stand to hear anymore about it?”  Lexa asked.  “I lived it and I can’t stand to think about it anymore.”

“You’re my girls.  It’s killing me,” he said.  “I understand the anger, Lexa.  It’s all I can do to not go to the county courthouse today to tear him apart.  I respect your decision not to pursue charges against Costia, but I hate that she did that to you and is going to get away with it.”

“Jake, it’s not that big of a deal.”

“She raped you, Lexa.  Whether you want to call it that or not, that’s what happened!”

“I consented!”  Lexa shouted.

“You’re too young to consent to anything!”  Jake shouted back.

“If I press charges the whole world finds out I’m a freak!  I can’t do that!  Maybe it was rape, but I can’t do that, I can’t!  I’m a freak and I can’t do anything!”

Neither of them had noticed Clarke come down the stairs.  She had been listening to them shouting, she heard most of the discussion.  “You’re not a freak.”

“But I am, Clarke.  Every morning you wake up and flinch away from my freakishness!”

Clarke wrapped her arms around Lexa and held her as tightly as she could.  “I’m allowed to be messed up right now and so are you.  You are not a freak.  You are the kindest, sweetest, most brilliant girl I know.  As far as I’m concerned, you’re perfect.”

“I think the last week has proven I am far from perfect,” Lexa told her, calmer.

“You’re perfect for me.”

\------

Indra arrived at exactly 1:30.  Clarke promised she would be fine, she and Jake were going to talk.

Lexa sat in her doctors office and put everything she had into not crying.  Doctor Valerie Birch called her back.  Indra started to stand and Lexa waved her to stay in the waiting room.

Dr. Birch led her to an exam room and handed her a paper robe.  “Your father told me what happened and asked me to check for everything.  Do you want to talk about it?”

Lexa shook her head.  The doctor pulled out a syringe and indicated that she needed to draw some blood.  Lexa cooperated.  “I’ll give you a minute to change, I’m going to get the lab started on this.”

When Dr. Birch came back, Lexa was sitting on the exam table in her paper robe crying silent tears.  “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it, Lexa?  I know that Niylah is in her office today.”

Lexa shook her head, “Can we just get this over with?”

“Lexa,” the doctor started.

“Seriously, I can’t anymore.  Just do the damn exam.”

The doctor sighed.  “Okay.  Any pain, difficulty urinating, burning sensation?”

Lexa shook her head.  “Hop down and let me take a look.”

Dr. Birch gave her genitals a cursory glance to ensure there weren’t any sores or warts.  “You can cover up and get back on the table.”

Lexa did.  “Any rashes, physical symptoms?”

“No.”

“Is there anything you want to ask me?”

Lexa sighed, “Maybe I should go see if Niylah can see me today.”

“I think that’s a good idea.  Go ahead and get dressed, I’m going to see if the results are ready.”

Lexa got dressed and hopped back up on the exam table to wait.

Lexa was lying back staring at the ceiling when Dr. Birch came back in with a prescription bottle.

“Shit,” Lexa said.

“As far as STDs go, chlamydia is like winning the lottery, take the pills and in seven days it’ll be gone,”  Dr. Birch handed her the pills and a cup of water.  “I’m going to need you to come in for another HIV test in three months.”

“You think I’ve got HIV!?”

“It’s just a precaution, Lexa.  This test was negative, I expect further tests to also be negative, but we need to do them at three months and six months to be sure.  I also took the liberty of calling down to Niylah’s office.  She’s expecting you.”

\------

After spending an hour talking to Niylah, Lexa didn’t actually feel better, but she felt more capable of dealing with her current series of problems.  She also had an appointment every week for the next month.  After a great deal of discussion and Niylah cutting off Lexa’s circular arguments, Lexa admitted that maybe what had happened was rape and not entirely her fault.  No amount of Niylah reasoning with her would get her to believe that she was blameless.

\------

She walked back into the Griffin house and found Jake at the kitchen table. She sat down and face planted with a loud bang.

“That bad?”

“Chlamydia.”

“I got crabs once,” Jake said.  “If that makes you feel any better.”

“I think I feel worse.  I’m not sure it’s because you’ve just confirmed that you’ve had sex at all or that you’ve had sex with someone besides Abby.”

“What makes you think it wasn’t Abby that gave me crabs?”

Lexa gave him a look.

“It wasn’t Abby, it was my freshman year at CalTech and I don’t even remember her name.”

“So you forget the girl who gave you crabs.  What about the girl that gave you chlamydia, do you forget her?”

“Probably not.”

“I should go check on Clarke.”

When Lexa got upstairs she found Clarke watching _Forrest Gump_.  “That’s surprisingly appropriate.”

“Hey,” Clarke rolled over and smiled at her.

Lexa was struck by just how incredible Clarke was.  “You’re beautiful and when you smile at me I feel warm all over.”

Clarke blushed, “Why is _Forrest Gump_ surprisingly appropriate?”

“Because I also have an STD, and I have to get another HIV test in three months, and again in six months.”

“Nothing about you being mentally deficient?”

“I thought that was implied,” Lexa curled up against Clarke.  They were silent for a long time.  “She raped me, Clarke.”

“We’re going to get through this, Lex.”

\------

They didn’t return to school that week.  On Tuesday the blanket fort was broken down and Clarke’s room was returned to it’s normal state, messy with a side of drawing charcoal.  As the days wore on Clarke began to feel more in control and Lexa began to let go of her self-loathing.  They cuddled all over the house like they used to, constantly holding each other.  Life started to get back to normal.  “Clarke, get off Lexa and come eat dinner.”  “Clarke, get off Lexa and bring your laundry down.”  “Clarke, get off Lexa and go sleep in your bed.”  “Clarke, get off Lexa and come look at these Halloween costumes.”  “Lexa, pry Clarke off of your skinny bones and call your father.”

\------

Sunday night they slept apart for the first time in a week.  Both families gathered in the Woods home for dinner that night.  Things felt more like normal.  Anya teased, Lincoln complained about Coach Titus.

“How was the game?”  Lexa asked suddenly aware that she had missed one.

“We lost, it was a slaughter.”

Lexa felt awful again.

“Lex, nobody blames you.  They all think you’re out with mono, though,” Lincoln said.

Clarke laughed.

“What are you laughing for, they think she got from you,” Lincoln told her.  “What other reason could keep you both out for a week?”

“Nobody knows?”  Lexa asked.

“They know Finn was arrested for drugging Clarke, they assume the mono came from him.  Some people have noticed Costia disappeared, nobody has made any connection though,” Lincoln told them.

“What happened to Costia?”  Clarke asked looking around at their families.

“She’s gone and she won’t be back, that’s all you need to know,” Indra told them with a tone that did not invite further questions.

They would eventually learn that Costia was sent to a boarding school in Upstate New York, to avoid prosecution and possible civil litigation, the whole family relocated to ensure that Lexa never had to see her again.

\------

Monday brought kissing noises every time they passed their friends or Lexa’s team mates.  They went to their locker together, no more taking it in turns.

Zoe passed by with Harper and sang, “Clarke and Lexa, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Clarke was beet red, Lexa’s tiny ears could pass for strawberries.

After Lexa returned to the football field on Friday and led the team to a 44 - 13 victory over the current conference leader, the whole thing was forgotten by the general population.  They did get a new addition to their group of friends, Raven Reyes started stopping by their lunch table to check up on them and eventually started spending every lunch period with them.  Raven was loud and funny and had chemistry notes to share.

Clarke and Lexa again took the time to discuss their relationship.  All things considered, neither were in any hurry to do more than hold hands, but in light of everything that had happened (and the mono rumors), they thought that maybe a commitment was a good idea.  If anyone asked, they were dating, but otherwise, their physical relationship was limited to hand holding, hugs, and cuddles.  It kept other potential suitors at bay without any pressure to go any faster than they felt comfortable going.

  
  
  



	16. Spring 2009

**February 2009**

Luna Waters was a hopeless romantic.  A lot of sixteen year old girls are, so she’s not exactly unique.  It’s Valentine’s Day and a Saturday so the gang is at a party at the Waters home, Luna’s parents are at the restaurant because it’s one of the busiest days of the year for them.  Since most of their friend group identifies as single, Luna scrapped her original plans to make it a couples only party.

It’s pink, it’s overwhelmingly pink, pink food, pink drinks, pink decorations.  The boys refused to come in until at least half of the pink streamers were pulled down.  Monty, Jasper, and Murphy volunteered to pull them down themselves.  Then they mummified Nathan with them, because what else do you do with a couple hundred feet of pink streamers?

Lexa is sitting on the loveseat with her feet up on the coffee table.  Clarke is on her back with her head in Lexa’s lap and her legs dangling over the opposite arm of the loveseat.  Lexa had been absentmindedly running her fingers through the blonde's hair.  Clarke had been tossing a tennis ball in the air and catching it for the last half hour or so.

“I want to learn to juggle,” Clarke said.

“Are you sure about that, Calamity Clarke?”  Lexa asks.

“I haven’t broken anything all day,” Clarke grinned up at the brunette.  Lexa grinned back affectionately.

“I’m getting a drink, anybody need a refill?”  Jasper asked.  “We can play never have I ever.”

“No thanks,” Clarke said.  She hadn’t taken a drink of anything that wasn’t sealed before she touched it or prepared by a member of her family since September.  She also decided that alcohol would be reserved for much smaller gatherings in an environment in which she was in total control.  The previous New Year’s Eve was, as the previous couple of years, just Clarke and Lexa with a bottle of champagne playing pool in Gus’ man cave.  She had become the delinquents designated driver, being one of the few of them with both a license and a car.  Raven was eternally grateful and said so many times, which was odd since Clarke never once took the girl home.  She always crashed where she fell.  Clarke was under the impression that her parents weren’t very involved but it wasn’t something they discussed.

“You want me to get you a soda?”  Lexa asked, twirling one of Clarke’s waves around her fingers.

“I got some Abita Root Beer just for you, Clarke,” Luna said as she passed by and handed a cold one to Clarke along with a bottle opener.

“I think I love you, Luna,” Clarke grinned.

“Too bad my heart belongs to Linc,” she replied continuing with her hosting duties.

Jasper returned with a handful of red solo cups a bottle of rum under one arm and a two liter of Coke under the other.  He poured and distributed them.  Linc came along with a handful of cheap canned beers.  He handed one to Lexa, kept one for himself and passed out the others.

“Oh, joy, canned piss,” Murphy griped under his breath.  Lexa smirked at him.

“Never have I ever kissed someone of the same sex,” Jasper started.

“That’s rude, Jas,” Nathan said while he sipped the rum and Coke.  Murphy, Monty, Monroe, Lexa, and Clarke drank as well.  

“Murph?”  Lexa questioned.  Murphy was not particularly well liked within the group, but for some odd reason he and Lexa had a bond.  If it was a group event and Lexa had a say, Murphy was invited.  Only Clarke, Lexa, and Murphy knew that the three of them had been in a sexual assault group recommended and led by Niylah for a few weeks the previous fall.  Clarke didn’t know the details of Murphy’s inclusion in the group, Lexa did.

“Hmmm,” Murphy responded.

“You have something you want to share?”  Lexa asked.

“Not particularly,” Murphy answered.  “Carry on.”

Monty was sitting next to Jasper and went next, “Never have I ever willingly kissed someone of the opposite sex.”

Murphy, Harper, Luna, Lincoln, Raven, Jasper, and Monty drank.

“I appreciate the disclaimer,” Monroe said.  “Jasper’s quest for a kiss in first grade was awful.”

“You’re telling me,” Clarke exclaimed and everyone laughed.  The gang had gotten very good at not inadvertently referring to the events of the fall unless there was a funny story from the past that met the criteria.  Jasper was often the subject of the odd events that were mentioned in place of the difficult ones.

It was Nate’s turn, “Never have I ever had a crush on a teacher or school administrator.”

“What is this, gang up on Jasper day?”  Jasper whined.

“Every day is gang up on Jasper Day,” Monroe said.

“Hang on, hang on, hang on, I saw Harper take a drink,” Nate interjected.

“What?”  Monty looked at Harper.

“Mr. Kane is kind of hot, okay,” Harper defended.

“Mr. Kane is totally hot, just old,” Raven agreed.

“Never have I ever,” Harper started and glanced at Lexa playing with Clarke’s hair with one hand while Clarke fidgeted with the fingers on Lexa’s other hand, tennis ball long forgotten.  “Fallen in love with my best friend.”

“That’s because he’s gay,” Raven said.  Monty nodded.

Clarke and Lexa sipped their respective drinks and grinned at each other.

“They’re so cute it makes me want to puke,” Murphy teased.  

“Green’s an ugly color on you, John,” Clarke replied resuming her fidgeting with Lexa’s fingers.

\------

When Clarke, Lexa, and Linc headed home a little before midnight, Lexa and Linc were pleasantly buzzed.  Clarke stayed the night with Lexa.  The Woods house was fifty feet closer than the Griffin house.

“You’re really beautiful,” Lexa grinned as Clarke steered her toward the bed.

“I’m glad you think so,” Clarke smirked and fished out pajamas for the both of them.  She handed Lexa hers and went to the bathroom to change.  When she came back, Lexa was sitting on her bed with a silly grin and still holding the pajamas Clarke had handed her.

“Lex, you don’t want to sleep in your jeans.”

“I don’t have the fine motor skills to operate a button at this time.”  Indicating her pink dress shirt which was untucked but otherwise still fastened securely.

“Is this your way of asking for help?”

Lexa grinned and nodded.  Clarke pulled her to her feet and unbuttoned Lexa’s shirt without opening it and then unbuttoned her jeans.  “Can you get it yourself now?”

Lexa nodded.  “Thank you, Clarke.”

“You’re welcome, Lex.  I’m going to wait in the hall.”  Clarke stepped out and closed the door.  A few moments later she heard Lexa say “All done,” and then imitated the sound of a crowd cheering for her like she had made a touchdown.

“You’re such a dork,” Clarke said coming back in the room.  Lexa’s t-shirt was on backwards, otherwise she’s in pretty good shape.  Clarke helped her get it properly situated.  “Let’s get you to the bathroom.”

“Okay!”  Lexa smiles brightly.

Clarke supervised the brushing of the teeth and washing of the face, but left the room for Lexa to use the toilet.  When Lexa finished Clarke steered her back to the brunette’s bedroom and into the bed.

As they curled up around each other Lexa murmured, “Thank you for taking care of me, Clarke.  I love you.”

“You’re welcome, Lex.  I love you, too.”

“I want to kiss you, like, all the time now,” Lexa confessed into her pillow.

“Is that so?”  Clarke asked and observed Lexa nod her head slightly.  “What’s stopping you?”

“I’m afraid,” she whispered.

Clarke raised herself up and turned Lexa over to face her.  “Why are you afraid?”

“I’m afraid of how my body will respond,” Lexa avoided her eyes.  Clarke’s eyes had an uncanny ability to make her feel like all of her fears didn’t matter.  Lexa needed to say the words, she needed to have this talk with Clarke.  “I’m afraid of a lot of... physical... things.”

Clarke kissed her forehead.  “There is still no rush, Lex.”

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to wait for me to not be so screwed up.”

“Lexa, I’m not ‘waiting’ for you.  You’re it for me, I don’t want anyone or anything else.  There’s no ‘waiting’ to it.  We move forward when we move forward,” she soothed.  “It takes as long as it takes.”

“I love you so much, Clarke.”

“I know, Lex, I know.  I love you to the stars and back,” Clarke pushed a rogue curl off of Lexa’s face and tangled her fingers in her hair.

Lexa smiled softly, “I still miss the stars on my ceiling.”

“You’ve been here three years, why didn’t you say something?”

“I have you, you’re better than a painting.”

“I really want to kiss you right now,” the blonde whispered.

“I’d really like that.”

Clarke bent forward and connected their lips.  It was soft and gentle but not as chaste or innocent as so many of their other kisses.  Lexa felt it in every nerve ending like electricity making the little hairs on her arm stand up.

Clarke pulled away and smiled at the dazed expression on Lexa’s face.  “You okay there, Lex.”

“Hmmm,” she grinned.  “I’m great.”

Clarke looked at her with such affection that Lexa wanted to stay in that moment forever.

“You are so incredible,” Clarke whispered stroking Lexa’s cheek with her thumb.

“Not as incredible as you,” Lexa pressed into Clarke’s hand on her face.

“We should sleep,” the blonde kissed her forehead again and cuddled against her.

“Goodnight, Clarke.”

“Goodnight, Lexa.”

\------

**March 2009**

Lexa caught the bus to Tulane Medical Center for her six month HIV test.  Clarke would have driven her, but Lexa wanted to talk to Abby and didn’t want anyone else in Dr. Birch’s office with her.  Lexa managed to work her way up to Abby’s office without running into Anya anywhere.  She didn’t think it was very likely, but she knew Anya was there somewhere and she had a habit of appearing without warning.  Anya had finished the pre-med track in July.  She carried 20 credit hours every semester and pushed through summer semesters to finish a year early with with a 4.0 and a 42 MCAT score.  She started medical school in August and had been known to have lunch or dinner with Abby depending on her shift. Honestly, Lexa had seen more of Anya since she started med school than she did the three years that Anya was over at the University.

Lexa knocked on Abby’s partially open door and stuck her head in.

“Hi, Lexa,” Abby smiled.  “To what to I owe this visit.”

“I have an appointment with Dr. Birch in a few minutes.”

“Do you want some company?”  Abby was always happy to go along on Lexa’s appointments if Gus and Indra couldn’t make it.  Abby probably knew as much about Lexa’s condition now as the girl herself.  She may have specialized in neuro but she was now an expert in ovotesticular disorders.

“I don’t know.”

“Lex, what’s wrong?”

“I want to have kids someday.”

Abby’s eyes lit up with a vision of little curly haired Clarke’s running around.  “I’m for it.”

Lexa chuckled at Abby’s exuberance.  “What if I can’t?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Lexa’s concerns were not allayed.  

“I’ve got some time,” Abby told her.  “I can go over to Birch’s office with you.”

“I think I should go alone,” Lexa swallowed.  “Thanks, though.”

“How about I give you a ride home when you’re done?  Just come back here after, okay?”

“Okay, thanks Abby.”

Lexa made her way around and down to Dr. Birch’s office.  “Lexa,” the receptionist greeted.

“Hi, Sandy.”

“Go on back to exam room two, I’ll let her know you’re here.”

“Thanks,” Lexa headed down the hall and into the correct room.  She hopped up on the table and pulled out her phone to play a game while she waited.

Dr. Birch came in a few minutes later, “Hi Lexa!  Last one,” she pulled out a tourniquet and a syringe.  “Let’s get some blood.”  She tied off the tourniquet and drew some blood.  Popping the rubber strip off quickly and trashing it as she headed for the door.  “I’m going to take this to the lab, I’ll be right back.”  She came back in a few moments later and sat down.  “So, how is everything?”

“Plumbing works as expected,” Lexa jokes.

“That’s in order then,” Dr. Birch replies.  “What’s on your mind, Lexa?”

Lexa gave her a curious look.

“You’ve been coming to me for three years and being as you’re the only patient I have with your particular condition, I tend to pay special attention to you.  You only make that face when you have something on your mind,” Dr. Birch explained.  “Also Dr. Griffin bullies me to take care of you,” the endocrinologist grinned.

“Fertility.”

“Ah,” Dr. Birch sighed and turned to the computer pulling up Lexa’s file.  “You’re sperm count was very low at our last test.  It may have changed slightly, motility was fair though.  So there aren’t many of them but they’re pretty decent swimmers.”

“What if I want to have kids some day?”

The doctor sighed, “I’m not going to lie to you, Lexa, the chances of a natural conception are so low as to be zero.”

Lexa nodded at her feet.

“You’re never going to be more fertile than you are between now and about twenty years old.”

Lexa nodded at her feet again.  “What about in vitro?  Can I start storing sperm now for use later?”

“In vitro would likely be your best chance to have a biological child,” the doctor agreed.  “Do you have a receptive uterus in mind?”

Lexa blushed and nodded at her feet.  “Clarke.”

“Abby’s Clarke?  You like to live dangerously.”

“Clarke isn’t dangerous, she’s wonderful,” Lexa smiled shyly.

“It’s not Clarke I’d be worried about, Abby Griffin is scary,” the endocrinologist confided.

“Abby is awesome, but yeah, a little scary sometimes.  Someone has to be the grown up.”

Dr. Birch was careful with her next phrasing, “Lexa, are you going to be okay with the method required to produce sperm for storage?”

Lexa stared at the floor again.  “I have an appointment with Niylah when we’re done here.”

“I’m going to go pick up your test results and you can think about how you want to proceed.”

Lexa laid back on the exam table and stared at the ceiling thinking about her options.  She really did want those little blue eyed curly haired babies someday.  But she had so much she wanted to do first.  According to the doctor, the time for her to produce viable sperm was limited.  She hated the idea of masturbation.  Hated it.  Could she soldier her way through in the hopes that someday those imaginary babies might be a possibility?  Could it help her not hate her anatomy so much?

Lexa was still lost in her thoughts when Dr. Birch came back in with the final negative result.  She handed Lexa the paper with the results.  “You’re all clear,” the doctor told her.

Lexa looked relieved but didn’t say anything.  The whole mess reminded her too much of what had happened and Lexa didn’t want to think about it.

“Any thoughts on what we discussed.”

“I think I can do it.  I’m going to talk to Niylah, though.”

“We’re going to need your dad’s consent, too.”

“Yeah, what I really want to talk to my dad about is my need to masturbate for science.”  

\-------

Lexa flung herself into the cushy chair in Niylah’s office.  “I have to masturbate.”

“Didn’t you just leave the office that specializes in that?”  Niylah joked.  “Why do you have to masturbate?”

“Because I want kids someday.”

“I think there’s something you’ve forgotten to tell me,” the therapist said.

Lexa explained her visit with the endocrinologist.  

“So you need to masturbate, for science,” Niylah deadpanned.

“For science,” Lexa nodded.

“And you’ve thought this through?”  Niylah asked.

“I’ve got a small window for viable sperm, but after I’m 20 there is virtually no chance of fertilization.  I mean, I’m fine with adoption.  Did you know my mother was in the system?”

“I didn’t.  So you would even be okay with adopting an older child?”

“I don’t know, probably.”

“Then why the rush to ensure conception of a biological child?”

“I can’t even ensure that,” Lexa said.  “I just want the option available when I’m ready.”

“Is this about Clarke?”

“She doesn’t know and I don’t plan on telling her.”

“Why won’t you talk to her about this?”

“Because I’m too afraid of my body to even kiss her, I really can’t talk to her about my inability to interact with my penis.”

“Clarke has no problems with your anatomy.”

“I know that, but I do.”

“Does Clarke want to have sex?”

“Where did that even come from?”

“Lexa, you are the least complicated person I’ve ever counseled.”

“I’m insulted.”

“You’re deflecting.”

“Not that I am aware of,” Lexa sighed.  

“But this _is_ about sex.”  Niylah said.

“I want to be able to kiss my girlfriend and not freak out if I get aroused.  I want to be able to make a baby with her someday, and I can’t do that if I can’t even masturbate, let alone consider letting someone else interact with it.”

“Have you thought more about surgery?

“Did you know that if I do the vaginoplasty my body will treat it like a wound and constantly try to heal it?”

“Yes.”

“Doesn’t that make the whole thing kind of futile?”

“That’s no way to think, Lexa.”

“No, but seriously, I hate my body and it will literally try to heal itself back to this if I try to change it!”

“And is masturbating somehow supposed to, what, get you on speaking terms with your penis?”

“I don’t know.”

“Lexa, how much of this is residual shame from Costia?”

“We are not talking about that today.”

“Lexa, we have to talk about this.”

“Nope.”

“Lexa, is it possible that you can’t stand the idea of any kind of sexual contact because your body betrayed you in the past?”

“Or maybe it’s my crippling body dysphoria,” Lexa snapped.

“Lexa, what Costia did to you was wrong, besides taking advantage of you she fetishized your condition.  From everything you’ve told me, I don’t believe she would have even approached you if you had the standard female anatomy.  Dysphoria is one thing, I think we’re into PTSD territory now.”

“I’m fine,” Lexa growled.

“You’re still angry, Lexa.”

“Of course I’m fucking angry!”  Lexa roared.  “I can’t even fantasize about kissing the girl I love because if my dick gets hard I have a fucking panic attack!  I can’t even change into pajamas in the same room with her anymore because she might see the lump in my underwear.”

Lexa leapt out of the chair and made for the door.  She yanked it open to find a very stern looking Anya blocking her path.

“Shit.”

“Go sit back down,” Anya ordered.

“Ahn,” Lexa whined.

“I’m not even playing with you anymore,” Anya grabbed Lexa’s shoulder and spun her back around.  “Back in the chair.”

“Don’t you have a class or something?”  Lexa threw herself back in the chair.  

“Hello Anya,” Niylah greeted.

“Niylah, do you mind if I kick my little sister’s ass for a little while?”

“Don’t leave any visible marks,” the therapist said.

“It’s been six months, Lex,” Anya started.  “I’ve given you space, I’ve been understanding, I’ve tried not to be the overprotective big sister, but I’m done now.  You’re going to start dealing with this instead of shutting down and running.”

“Ahn,” Lexa had tears in her eyes.

They talked for two hours.  Niylah moved her other appointments to an empty office down the hall occasionally sticking her head in to make sure the Woods sisters were both still alive and not in need of medical care.  When Niylah was done with her appointments she came back in to find Lexa and Anya arm wrestling.

“Is this a new method they’re teaching in psych?”  The therapist asked.

“Sibling domination techniques,” Anya said slowly losing to a very determined Lexa.

“I don’t think that’s working as intended.”

Lexa pins her sister's wrist and jumps up to do a loser dance.

“You’re embarrassing yourself in front of your therapist.”

“I embarrassed _you_ in front of my therapist,” Lexa continued her dance with an added chorus of “Anya sucks, I’m the best.”

“The real question is, did you two make any headway?”

“I can do what I want, but I have to be honest with you and start the cognitive PTSD treatment.”

“Next time she fights me, I’m calling you,” Niylah tells Anya.

“You don’t have to just call me then,” Anya flirts.

“Gross,” Lexa walks out of the office.

\------

**April 2009**

Clarke and Lexa have been called to the den and Clarke senses a trap.  Abby, Gus, and Indra are sitting on the sofa.  The girls squeeze into Jake’s favorite recliner together.  He’s nowhere to be found, which is why Clarke senses a trap.

“Girls, we have to start talking about colleges,” Abby tells them.

An ambush!  “Do we have to do this right now, Mom?  We're still sophomores!”

“Yes, Clarke.  Early admissions are next spring, scholarships and grants have to be applied for, you’re running out of time.”

“Tulane is Southern Ivy,” Indra offers.

Clarke snorts, “Going to college in my back yard where my mother is on the payroll doesn’t sound like fun.”

“It’s still a good school, Clarke,” Abby argued.

“Things have been rough since Katrina,” Lexa offered.

“What about Rhodes?”  Clarke asks.

“In Memphis?”  Gus asked.  “That wouldn’t have anything to do with it’s proximity to pandas would it?”

“Why doesn’t Lincoln have to be here?”  Lexa asked.

Gus hesitates.  “Lincoln is applying to Annapolis.”

“What?!”  Lexa shouts.  “You can’t let him do that!”

“I can’t stop him, Monkey.  You know Nyko went to the Naval Academy, Linc wants to play football for Navy.”

“He’ll have to join the Navy!”  Lexa argued.

“He’ll have to serve for five years after graduation, yes,” Gus conceded.

“What’s he going to study, deck swabbing?”  Clarke tried to lighten the mood.

“Oceanography,” Gus replied.

“Lincoln’s not here because he’s already made these decisions, you two have not,”  Abby brought the subject back around.

“LSU!” Clarke offered.

“No,” Abby replied.

“Geaux Tigers?”  Lexa tried.

“Abby has spoken,” Gus replied.

“Loyola,” Clarke smirked.

“Baylor,” Abby fired back.  

Clarke made a face, “No Texas.”

“I printed a list,” Abby told them and handed it over.

“Most of these are up north,” Lexa observed.  “I don’t want to go back to the D.C. area.”

“I don’t like the cold,” Clarke added.  “Rhodes is on here.  Where’s Conway, Arkansas?”

“Probably nowhere we want to be,” Lexa replied.

“Agnes Scott,” Clarke said.

Lexa gave her a look.

“Right, no co-ed sports,” Clarke nodded.  “Sewanee?”

Lexa shrugs.

“Berry?”

“Chick-fil-a,” Lexa replied shortly.

Clarke grunted.  “Was the point of this exercise to annoy us into going to Tulane?”

“Yes, Clarke, that’s exactly what this is,” Abby said sarcastically.  “I want you both to get online and do some research and make a list.  We’ll talk about visiting some campuses this summer.”

“Where do you want to go to school?”  Clarke directed her question to Lexa.

“Mars University,” Lexa deadpanned.

“Are you going to take ‘mathematics of wonton burrito meals’?”  Clarke retorted.

“I was thinking of auditing it,” Lexa replied seriously.

Gus chuckled.

\------

“What about Old Miss?”  Lexa asked scrolling a list of colleges.

“I can’t in good conscience attend any SEC school that isn’t LSU,” Clarke answered scrolling down her own list.

Lexa gave her a look.  

“I don’t make the rules, Lex.  What about Washington?”

“I’m going to need you to be more specific.”

“Washington University in St. Louis.”

Lexa Googled it, “Put it on the list.  Put Vanderbilt on the list too.”

“What did I just say about the SEC?”

“They’re SEC West and what are the chances it’s ever going to be Vandy versus LSU in a bowl game?”

Clarke looked like she was going to argue then shrugged, “That’s fair.”

“Why are we doing this?  We already know we’re going to Tulane?”  Lexa asked.

“You don’t want to road trip to different campuses and visit other cities with me?”

“I would love to road trip with you, but I can think of a dozen other things I’d rather be doing this afternoon.”

“Think of every city you wouldn’t mind road tripping to and find a school there that Mom can’t veto out of hand.  Then make a list of things we want to do in that city so we can build a road trip plan,” Clarke explains.

“Very devious,” Lexa grinned.  “What if there isn’t a good school in the city I want to see?”  

“Then we plan a route that puts it between two schools.”

“You’re a little scary sometimes,” Lexa smiles.

\------

Clarke and Lexa called a family meeting, this time it was over dinner at the Griffin house.

“Alright then, let’s hear it,” Gus said.

Lexa had proposed handouts for the parents, she distributed them.

“Rhodes, Vanderbilt, Washington, Hendrix, UT Austin, and Rice,” Anya read having looked over Indra’s shoulder.  “That’s quite the road trip you’ve planned.”

The girls waited for a response.  They had been careful to pick good schools with great programs.

The parents were exchanging looks.

“Let’s do it,” Anya said.  “This summer, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis, I’m calling that Little Rock, Austin, and Houston.  Just the three of us.  Linc can come if he can stand to be away from his girlfriend that long.”

“Really?”  Clarke’s eyes shined.

“Anya, are you sure about this?”  Gus asked.

“Yeah,” Anya said.  “I could use a break, a road trip with my younger siblings seems like just the thing.”

  
  
  
  



	17. Summer 2009:  Part One

**May 2009**

Lexa was in a private room in Dr. Birch’s offices.  She had a cup and even though she’s spent a month building up to this, it’s not going well.  So far she managed to stare menacingly at the cup for fifteen minutes.  A nurse offered her magazines, Lexa resisted going off on a tangent about objectifying women and turned down the magazines.  Now it was just her and the cup.

The cup was her nemesis.

Lexa stared it down.

She began to feel like that was a futile strategy.

She had spent the last month seeing Niylah three times a week and working through the cognitive therapy.  Those three evenings a week she was emotionally wiped out and would spend the night at Clarke’s.

Now she was losing a battle of wills with a little plastic cup.

 _What would Anya say?_  On second thought, better to not think of your sister when you’re supposed to be masturbating.

Lexa sat back and closed her eyes.  She thought of Clarke’s eyes and the way her hair lit up like a halo when the sun hit it just right.  She thought about Clarke’s voice, thick with sleep and the way she smiles at Lexa sleepily in the mornings.  She thought about the way Clarke smelled and how her lips tasted.  Something was going on down there.  She devoted a little more thought to Clarke’s lips, and that divot on her chin that made her look like a superhero.  Lexa smiled at the thought.  She started to wonder how Clarke’s lips would feel in other places, like the area behind her ears or her neck.  Clarke often kissed Lexa’s shoulder when they cuddled.  Lexa wondered how it would feel without an article of clothing between Clarke’s lips and her skin.  Something was definitely going on in her underwear.  

Lexa felt herself hesitate, her subconscious arguing with her conscious thoughts about her physical and emotional safety in that moment.  Intellectually, she knew she was in a locked room in a medical environment where the only people who could open that locked door were fully aware of her disorder and had made no judgements about her based on it.  She knew no one was looking at her.  She knew no one was going to take advantage of her.  She struggled with her fears.

Maybe thinking about Clarke wasn’t the way to go about this.  It felt wrong fantasizing about the blonde without her knowledge.  Clinical and scientific, remove emotion.  No fear, no weakness.  Lexa stared at the cup and unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans.

\------

She handed the cup over to Dr. Birch.  “For testing,” Lexa averted her eyes.  “I want to be sure before I do that again.”

“Okay, Lexa.  I’ll take it to the lab.  Do you want to come back next week?”

“How soon can you get the results?”

“Tomorrow, but I have a full day, I can leave the results with Sandy if you don’t mind checking in and checking out with one of the nurses.”

Lexa nodded.

“I’ll let Sandy know to keep a room open for you.”

\------

Seventh period, with football season over, Lexa was supposed to be on the track.  She was running cross country in the off-season.  But since it was raining she had wandered into Clarke’s art class and and agreed to model for life drawings.  The art students were instructed to select one of Lexa’s features to draw and shade within the class period.  Lexa was good at sitting still and had often kept still for hours while Clarke drew her.  Most of the class opted to draw her hands or eyes.  Clarke was drawing her neck.  When Lexa saw the nearly finished piece at the end of class it stirred something in Lexa.  

“Can you give me a ride over to the hospital?”  Lexa asked Clarke while looking at the fine shading the blonde had done on the drawing.

“You had an appointment yesterday, Is everything okay?”  Clarke asked with concern.

“Everything is fine,” Lexa told her truthfully.  “I need to get some results and drop something off.”

“You’re sure everything’s okay?”

“As far as I know, you can even wait for me in your Mom’s office,” Lexa wanted to alleviate Clarke’s worry.  Asking her to hang around and wait was a good way to do that.

\------

Dr. Birch had scribbled a note on Lexa’s test results.  “ _Slight increase in count, motility still within acceptable levels._ ”

Lexa didn’t produce eggs, her ovaries produced the proper hormone levels but no eggs.  It was normal for individuals with her condition to only produce either eggs or sperm, but not both.  As far as medicine was aware, no human had ever produced both.  If Lexa was ever going to have biological children, this was the only way.

A nurse had approached and was waiting for Lexa to finish reading the results.  “Are you ready?”  She asked when Lexa looked at her.  Lexa nodded, eyes a little wider than usual with the possibilities.

She led Lexa to the same private room and handed her a tagged cup.  Lexa took it and decided that yesterday’s clinical approach was the best way to soldier on.  She turned off her emotions, undid her jeans and did what she needed to do.

\-----

She had the time it took to walk back up to neuro to compartmentalize.  When she opened Abby’s office door, Clarke was laughing at something Anya had said.  Lexa melted, Clarke’s laugh had to be her favorite sound in the universe.

Anya glanced up at her with a question in her eyes.  Lexa knew Anya wanted to know if the results were the same or better and if Lexa had managed to do what she needed to do.  Lexa gave her a subtle nod before Clarke turned and smiled when she saw Lexa.

“Hey,”  Lexa knew Clarke saved that soft smile just for her, Lexa loved it.  She loved Clarke.  Her heart swelled in her chest.  “Everything good?”

“Everything is great,” Lexa told the blonde.  “You want to go get some coffee?”

\-----

The rain had cleared up and the sun started to come out.  They left Clarke’s car in the Medical Center parking deck and caught the streetcar down Canal to the river front.  While Lexa had no interest in going into engineering or waterway management, she had inherited Gus’ affection for the Mississippi River.  Clarke thought that probably had something to do with Lexa’s being born within five miles of it’s banks to a man who loved it and quoted Mark Twain.

They walked along the bank hand in hand.  After a while Clarke asked, “You want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Not really,” Lexa replied looking out at the water.

“Lex,” Clarke began.

“I’m okay, Clarke, I promise.  It’s body stuff and I’m trying to get better.”

“You finished the cognitive therapy for the PTSD.”

“I did, it’s under control.”

“Look at me, Lex,” Lexa turned and blue met green.  As usual the weight of the world melted away and Lexa felt warm all over.  “I’m worried about you.”

“You don’t have to be,”  Lexa fished out the paper with her latest test results.  She hesitated, not really ready to talk to Clarke about everything but wanting to ease her concerns, before handing the folded sheet to Clarke.

Clarke opened the sheet and looked over it.  “Oh,” she blushed.  Despite being well acquainted with Lexa’s condition,  sperm counts were still a little embarrassing for a sixteen year old girl.  Clarke refolded the paper and handed it back to Lexa.  They walked on in silence for a while.  “Is this about our gorgeous hypothetical kids?”

Lexa stopped and looked out over the water.  Clarke hugged Lexa from behind and put her chin on the brunette’s shoulder.

“Sometimes I don’t appreciate how well you know me,” Lexa finally said.

“Right back at’cha, Lex.”

“I love you.”

Clarke kissed her cheek, “I love you, too.  Do you want to talk about it?”

Lexa shook her head, careful not to jostle Clarke.  “Soon, I think.”

“Okay, let’s go get that coffee.”

\------

**June 2009**

School had been out for all four of them for a few days when they loaded up in Anya’s Accord, a gift from Gus and Indra after her first two semesters at Tulane.  Gus said it was the money he would have spent on college if she hadn’t worked so hard to get a full ride.

Besides their appearance, there was one distinct difference between the Woods sisters.  Lexa was born brilliant, Anya had to work for it everyday.  Lexa skated by with a minimum of work because if she heard, saw, or read something once, she knew it.  Forever stored away for regurgitation at a moment's notice.  Anya studied and worked, reading and rereading.  Anya didn’t begrudge Lexa the ease at which she took in and disseminated information, the girl deserved to have something be easy.  

Clarke was Lexa’s match in the ability to pick up on things immediately, Lexa was better at the study of the human condition.  Her fear of outsiders and people discovering her secret taught Lexa to be hyper aware of behavior.  Clarke was better at standing up and being heard.  

Anya liked Clarke, she was impetuous, smart, and hopelessly in love with Lexa.  The first two were just a bonus.  Life with Clarke around was always interesting.  Where Lexa was steady and calm, Clarke was a wild and a little reckless.  Anya was looking forward to Lexa seeing Memphis through the more adventurous Clarke’s eyes.  They were spending a few days there, not only to look at Rhodes and pandas, but to take the time to experience the city, and Anya wanted to make a special stop to see someone.

“Pick up the pace Linc, I want to go to Beale Street tonight,” Anya called.

“We can’t drink,” Lexa stated obviously.

“No, but I can and Clarke can eat.  You know how Clarke loves to eat.”

“I really, really do.  Chicken and waffles, barbecue, burgers, and more barbecue, that’s my plan for tonight,” Clarke grinned at Lexa.  “There are museums for you and weird shops for Linc.”

\------

On road trips, shotgun is the best seat.  Shotgun is the navigator and gets to register an opinion on the music.  In the Woods kids youth, the battle for shotgun ended in someone bleeding and someone crying more often than not.  Lincoln liked Clarke and Lexa together on the road trip, they shared the backseat, cuddled up together as much as their seatbelts would allow.  Lincoln basked in the glow of shotgun, without a bloody nose, black eye, or sore shoulder.  Anya took I-55 north.  Lincoln studied Google Maps, a strange website that told him where to find weird attractions, and another that told him where the really good food was to be found.

“McComb, Mississippi, something happened there,” Clarke wondered aloud looking at the interstate signs.

“Civil Rights Movement flashpoint, very nasty, klan violence,” Lexa replied.

“Well, we are in Mississippi,” Linc said.  “Is there anyplace that hasn’t had klan violence?”

\-------

“You want to stop and see a two headed snake?”  Linc asked the other people in the car.

“No,” all three of them replied.

Linc sighed in disappointment.  Several minutes passed.

“How about Greek and Southern fusion?”

“Linc, we haven’t even been on the road three hours, yet.”

“I’m hungry,” he whined.

“You’re always hungry,” Anya complained.

“So’s Clarke, but you don’t give her a hard time about it!”

Clarke looked up dazedly from where she had been playing with the placid Lexa’s hair.  “Hmm?”

“Clarke doesn’t always want to eat weird stuff,” Anya pointed out.

“I am a growing boy with adventurous taste buds!”

“You are a weirdo with a cast iron stomach.”

Clarke watched the cousins volley back and forth before losing interest and dozing on her skinny friend.

“If we take highway 49 we can see a witches grave and the Devil’s Crossroads.  You know, where the Robert Johnson sold his soul to play better?”

Anya gave him a look.

“It’s a road trip, Ahn!  Come on!”  Lincoln pleaded.

“Alright, tell me where to turn,” Anya gave in.

\------

Three hours and one disappointing witches grave later, Anya parked in a grungy looking pull off spot at the corner of old highways 49 and 61.  Lincoln hopped out and carefully crossed the turn lane to get to a sign with three guitars on it.

“Why are we here?”  Lexa asked having just awakened.

“Lincoln wanted to see where Robert Johnson sold his soul to play the blues.”

“I’d sell my soul for some of that barbecue over there.  Can you smell that?” Clarke practically salivated.

\------

“That statue is creepy,” Clarke said as they crossed into Tennessee.  “He’s smiling like he murdered his whole family and ate their livers with Chianti.”

“Anybody want to go to Graceland?”  Linc asked.  “Besides me?”

Anya gave him a dirty look.  Lexa shrugged.

“I’m a Beatles, girl,” Clarke replied.

“How are we going to the birthplace of rock and roll and not going to Graceland?!”

“I’m morally opposed to gold lamé,” Lexa deadpanned.

\------

They had been on Beale for an hour, Clarke and Lexa had already split an order of chicken and waffles (Linc had his own) and Anya had a light buzz, when the younger blonde announced, “Street artist on Beale is my new fall back plan.”

“You’ll go broke eating,” Anya said.

“Speaking of, let’s get some ribs,” Clarke pointed at a barbecue place with good reviews.  Linc nodded his agreement.

Linc was torn.  He’d spent the last three years fully immersed in the jazz culture of New Orleans, but the Memphis blues were calling to him.  He regretted leaving his trumpet at home.  Linc didn’t think he could live in Memphis, he’d spent his whole life within a few miles of salt water (it was so in his veins that the Navy was his _first_ choice), but he could certainly visit from time to time.

\------

A few hours later they wandered back to the Peabody.  The four of them were in one room together.  Clarke and Lexa had a bed, Anya had a bed, Linc got a roll-away bed because Anya refused to share a bed with the human starfish, blood relative or not.  

“Who decides these weird channel combinations?  Why is the channel guide completely useless?”  Anya complained about hotel cable programming, while the other three shoved each other around for access to the sink.  Well, Lexa and Clarke shoved Lincoln and Lincoln shoved Clarke and Lexa.  Clarke and Lexa were so used to getting ready for bed together that it was a well choreographed routine.

Clarke and Lexa climbed into their bed and wrapped around each other in the familiar way even in a new place, Lexa on her back with her arm around the blonde who was curled into her side using Lexa’s shoulder as a pillow.  From time to time Clarke would gently plant a kiss on Lexa’s shoulder.  Lexa would drop a kiss on the top of Clarke’s head.

Clarke worried about Lexa.  She didn’t say anything because she knew that the brunette didn’t want to talk about it.  She knew Lexa was at the endocrinologist once a week, she didn’t know why.  She knew she was seeing Niylah less and thought that might be a good thing since Lexa seemed less frustrated than she had since September.  Clarke turned her eyes up to Lexa, her beautiful, kind, loving, Lexa.  

Lexa looked down at Clarke and the adoring look in her eyes and smiled.  It was another one of those moments when she really wanted to kiss the blonde.  She was feeling more comfortable with her body and its behaviors and by extension, less frightened of kissing Clarke.  She wasn’t however, up to having her sister and cousin in the room.  They already made fun of her for giving Clarke ‘heart eyes’ all the time, she certainly wasn’t going to perform one of their all too rare kisses in front of them.

Anya got up to begin her bedtime rituals.  Clarke tore her thoughts from the beautiful girl against her and her eyes trailed after Anya who emerged from the bathroom in her pajamas.

“Anya,” Clarke began quietly.  “Why don’t you ever date anyone?”

Anya laughed.  

“I don’t know why that’s funny,” Clarke said.

“I do,” Linc interjected from his roll-away cot.

Clarke looked at Lexa who just shrugged.  “Can you fill me in?”  The blonde asked.

“Have you ever seen you and Lexa together?”  Linc asked.

She looked at him then at Lexa, who again shrugged.

“I’ve spent the last eight years around two people who were born to be together, I don’t really want to waste my time on anything less than that kind of inevitability.”

Clarke’s brow furrowed, she looked at Lexa who looked softer and much less confused than Clarke.

“Ahn- -” the brunette began before her sister cut her off.

“Don’t get all weepy on me, Lexa.  I’m good, it’s not like I’m pining away for anyone.  I’m perfectly happy occasionally banging your therapist.”

“And the moment is gone,” Lexa nodded.

“Great, now go to sleep because you bug me,” Anya teased.

“Are you really banging my therapist?”

“Good night, Lexa,” Anya smiled.

\-------

On Saturday morning, they watched the Peabody ducks and headed out to the Memphis Zoo.  Clarke, Anya, and Lexa hadn’t been there since they were kids despite the Woods and Griffin families occasional attempts to plan a trip to the Blues city.  Lincoln had never been that he could recall, Gus had told him that Nyko and his mother had visited them in Memphis when he and Lexa were seven and six months old, respectively.  Anya thought she remembered two screaming babies instead of just one.  It was a family joke, because until Lexa was three and the meltdowns began, she almost never cried and she never screamed.  Gus said she had certain gurgles and grunts for her various needs and provided they were met within a reasonable amount of time, Lexa was a calm, quiet baby.  Doted on by her older sister and two loving parents, baby Lexa didn’t want for much.

On the way to the Zoo, Anya asked Lexa to text Gus to find out where they used to live.  Anya had taken Poplar since it seemed like the most direct path.  She found the turn Lincoln said led into the park area.

“Dad says we rented a little bungalow in Midtown, where’s Midtown?”  Lexa asked.

“We’re in Midtown,” Linc holds up the map on his phone.

“An address would be nice,” Anya groaned.  She passed the first turn into the zoo when Linc indicated there would be another turn.

“He’s just keeps texting LOL at me,” Lexa gripes.

“I can’t get in that way, Linc,” Anya said finding the right lane of the targeted road closed to traffic.  “I’m going to have to go around the block.”

She pulled up to a stop sign on another main road and considered her options.

“If you take a right, we can go down and take a right and circle the block around the park,” Linc was saying.

“Wait, I know that building!”  Anya points at an old building across the street.  “I went to school there!”

“We’re like a block from Rhodes,” Linc said looking at the map on his phone.

Clarke laughs, “That’s why he keeps texting Lexa LOLs!”

They got over to the elementary school and Anya drove around the neighborhood until things started to look familiar.  Another few minutes and they were stopped in the street looking at an older, but well maintained, mid twentieth century bungalow.  Lexa snapped a picture and texted it to Gus.  He replied with a smiley emoji.

\------

“They take this Egypt thing seriously, huh?”  Linc observed looking at the entry to the Memphis Zoo.  In true road trip trope fashion, they stopped to take pictures of each other in Egyptian poses in front of the hieroglyphics.

Once inside, Lexa with map in hand, headed for the red pandas.

“We’ll just meet you there then,” Anya shouted stopping to look at the big cats.  Linc stayed with Anya, Clarke followed Lexa.

“I can see lions and tigers anywhere,” Lexa waved her off.

Clarke and Lexa were still smiling at the red pandas when Anya and Linc caught up.  

Eventually, they found their way to the China Pavilion and under orders from their parents, Anya snapped a picture of sixteen year old Clarke pretending to cry while almost sixteen year old Lexa looked on worriedly.  Jake had been sure to snap a picture of the original image and text it to Anya so she could pose them properly.

Saturday evening was spent wandering around Beale Street again and listening to the bands in the bars.

\------

“I can’t be the only person that thinks the Lorraine Motel is a morbid place for a Civil Rights Museum,” Clarke murmured looking at the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.  

Sunday morning had come and Woods’ plus Clarke were torn as to what activities to undertake.  They made their first stop the Lorraine Motel, because Lexa wanted to see the museum.  Lexa’s must do list for this trip was full of things that many people would find too depressing for a road trip, or too serious for such a young group of people.  They walked through the museum, Lexa looked sad, Linc looked angry, Clarke cried.  Anya decided they probably should have visited the National Civil Rights Museum before the pandas at the zoo.

After the Lorraine Motel Anya, exercised her legal-adult-in-control-of-the-credit-card position and took them over to Mud Island to hopefully lessen the weight of a morning spent studying some of the worst parts of American history.

Lincoln liked the river boats and music sections.  Lexa just liked the Mississippi both the museum bits and the scale river walk in the park.  Clarke liked to be where Lexa was and where there was food.  She wasn’t thrilled with the available consumables, but she had Lexa and with Lexa nothing was ever a total loss.

Afterward, Anya drove them to the cemetery where Roma was interred.  Lincoln and Clarke hung back at the car.

\------

Monday morning they headed over to the college where they were expected for a tour.  It was a beautiful campus, Clarke could absolutely be happy to spend four years there.  She was pretty sure Lexa wouldn’t be, though.  It was too close to her earliest years.

They visited the Gibson factory before getting on the road to Nashville and Vanderbilt.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	18. Summer 2009:  Part Two

They had been in Nashville all of ten minutes when Lexa declared, “This is the least gay friendly place I’ve ever been and I spent half a day in Mississippi last week.”

“How about we go check into the hotel, order a pizza, hook the laptop up to the television and watch a movie?”  Clarke suggested.

Lexa grumbled.

“You want to stop at the Parthenon tomorrow and remind all of the tourists how much the Greeks liked to fuck?”  Anya asked.

Lexa chuckled.

\------

The next day, after seeing everything, Anya gave a long speech about Greeks and how the men entertained themselves with each other while away at war.  She suggested they watch _Troy_ again with the knowledge that Achilles was banging Patroclus.  She was just getting started on Sappho when they were asked to leave and not to come back to the Parthenon.  They were pretty sure given the option, they would have been asked to leave the city altogether and never come back. 

They hit up the Bluebird Cafe for dinner and returned to their hotel, because ‘’fuck Nashville.’

\------

The next morning they visited Vanderbilt with the peppiest tour guide Anya ever wanted to strangle.  Lincoln tried to flirt with her, but obviously high school boys were so bourgeois, or something.  Lexa and Clarke hated her, too.  

Vandy was a great school, it was just in an awful city.

The drive to St. Louis was excessively long and they weren’t expected at Washington University until Friday, so they decided to spend one more night holed up in the hotel and leave in the morning.

\------

“This has got to be the most boring strip of highway in America.  Three states of nothing!”  Lincoln complained.

“Can we go to Six Flags when we get to St. Louis?”  Clarke asked.

“I want to go up the Arch and see the Monet at the Saint Louis Art Museum,” Lincoln added.

“They’ve got a Water Lilies, don’t they?”  Clarke asked.  “I wouldn’t mind seeing the Van Goghs.”

“Lexa, any requests?” Anya asked.

“I’m good with those,” she replied.

\-------

The Washington University campus was gorgeous.  Their tour guide was a junior picking up a summer course.  He flirted with Anya, she flirted back.

“The whole place looks like a castle,” Clarke remarked.

“Only the best for my Princess,” Lexa smiled.

“Do you at least have a Doctor Jones in the Archeology Department?”  Lincoln was asking the guide.

“Unfortunately not,” the guide replied.

“What do you think?”  Clarke asked Lexa.

“I think it’s beautiful and has excellent programs and a great reputation,” Lexa answered.

“But, “ Clarke stopped walking and stood in front of the brunette.

“Who says there’s a ‘but’?”  Lexa smiled.

“I do, you’ve got a but,” the blonde put her hands on Lexa’s forearms and pulled her close.  Their lips close enough to be distracting for both of them.

Lexa looked over her shoulder and down, “Oh my god, I do!”  She grinned at Clarke who, while always at least a little bit charmed by Lexa, was still looking at her expectantly.  “I … I want to go wherever you want to go.”

“Lex,” Clarke was unimpressed.

“It’s a great school.  There’s nothing wrong with it, I’ll go wherever you want to go.  But, here’s your ‘but’, are you happy now?” Lexa teased.

“I love your butt, it always makes me happy,” Clarke grinned.

“I’ve kind of had my heart set on Tulane or Loyola since the third grade,” Lexa confessed.

“Really?”  Clarke asked.

“Really.  At first it was because it was close to you, then because they are both really nice, and then because they are both really good schools,” Lexa explained.  “I’m not super excited about going to school so close to home either, but going to school anywhere else would just be because we didn’t want to stay at home, not because there was a better school.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?  You don’t have an opinion?”

“I have a lot of opinions, but you’re right,” Clarke kissed her nose.  “We’re going to Tulane, we were always going to go to Tulane.  We’ll live on campus.  If we need to, we’ll get jobs and an apartment near campus.”

“I love you,” Lexa was giving Clarke that look that made her melt every time.

“I love you, too.”

Lexa pushed forward and kissed Clarke softly.

They heard whistles and hoots from nearby, Anya and Lincoln were cheering them on.

“Talk about a mood killer,” Clarke joked.

Lexa grinned at her, “We should shake these two and talk.”

“Easy enough,” Clarke rounded on Anya and Lincoln.  “We’re ditching you losers to find some coffee and baked goods.”  She started walking in the direction she thought she had seen a little coffee shop off campus.

“This is _your_ campus tour!”  Anya called after them.

Lexa shrugged and followed Clarke.

\------

They had lattes and cheese danishes and were seated in the corner of the coffee shop at a table just barely big enough for the both of them.  The latte was passable, the danish was good.

“I love you,” Lexa told the blonde.

“Are we picking up where we left off?  Do I get another kiss?”

Lexa blushed, “Maybe in a bit.”  Lexa looked around making sure no one was close enough to hear them.  The only other patron was in the opposite corner typing on a laptop.  The barista was cleaning and singing along to the music playing overhead.  “I’m doing a lot better with … everything.”

Clarke nodded, her blue eyes locked on Lexa.

“This would be a lot easier if you could just read my mind,” Lexa sighed.

Clarke chuckled.  “Sometimes I wish I could, other times I think it’s best to respect your privacy.”

“It would make it hard to keep your birthday and Christmas presents secret,” Lexa pointed out.  She took a deep breath and blurted,  “Willyoubemygirlfriend?”

Clarke grinned, nervous Lexa was one of her favorite Lexas.  She loved them all, but silly Lexa and nervous Lexa were her favorites.

“I mean for real, not just as a matter of convenience or because our friends already think we’re a couple, but because you love me and I love you and I want to be able to kiss you whenever I want … as long as you’re receptive … If- if you d-don’t want to . . .”  Lexa started to stammer, nervous Lexa had left the building and panicked Lexa was emerging.

“Lexa, I love you and I would like nothing more than to have you kiss me whenever you want,” Clarke smiled.  “Provided I’m ‘receptive’.”  Clarke laughed at the blush that crept up Lexa’s face even turning her tiny ears red.

“Don’t be mean,” Lexa’s face continued to redden.

Clarke surged forward and kissed the embarrassed brunette softly.  “You’re not the only one that gets kissing rights.”

Lexa looked a little dazed but the blush was fading away.  She glanced around to ensure that they were still completely ignored and went in for another quick kiss.  Clarke wasn’t having any of that quick business, though, and deepened the kiss.  Their lips moved together until propriety got the better of Lexa and she pulled away.

“I could do that all day,” Clarke whispered.

Lexa just hummed, too dazed to form words.  Her phone chimed with a text.

 **Anya:**  I’m going to ditch you both in St. Louis.

Lexa showed Clarke the text.

“I guess we’ll continue this later,” the blonde winked.  Lexa felt her whole body buzz.

 **Lexa:**  Dad and Jake would kill you.

 **Anya:**  Then get your asses in gear.

\-------

Lexa knows they did something that evening, all she remembers is Clarke’s blue eyes and big smile.  Something about a loop, The Loop, maybe?  She didn’t care, just Clarke, all Clarke.

Come bedtime, Clarke really wanted to kiss Lexa goodnight.  Lexa was not receptive with her sister and cousin in the room.  Clarke yanked the blankets over their heads and grinned at the green eyed girl.

“Oh my gawd,” Anya cried out.

“They finally moved up to actual kissing!”  Linc shouted gleefully.

“I can’t kiss her with you pervs commenting out there,” Clarke shouted from the safety of the blankets.

Lincoln started making kissing sounds, Anya laughed.

“They’re ridiculous,” Clarke whispered.

Lexa nodded her agreement.  Their faces were so close together, Clarke was so soft and she smelled so nice.  Lexa pushed in and connected their lips.  It was soft and sweet and Clarke couldn’t wait to be kissed like that every day for the rest of their lives.

“I love you,” Lexa whispered.

“I love you,” Clarke whispered back and folded the blankets back down to let cooler air in.

Anya was rolling her eyes, Linc was laughing so hard he had gone silent and was holding his side.

“Both of you can just fuck right off,” Clarke told them as she curled into Lexa’s side.

\-------

Saturday at the Arch and the St. Louis Art Museum.  They took an obscene amount of pictures at the Arch.

Anya snapped one of Clarke and Lexa holding hands and looking down from the observation area pointing out things to each other.  It became one of her favorites.

Lincoln and Clarke entered the Saint Louis Art Museum and into their own little world.  They talked about art, color, and technique and Lexa understood very little but appreciated the art nonetheless.  Anya trailed along behind them trying to see the things Linc and Clarke discussed.  She did feel things looking at many of the paintings and it wasn’t boredom or superiority, so Anya thought that was probably a sign of personal growth.

\------

Sunday at Six Flags, the day started early.  Lincoln made an impassioned argument to get there earlier to avoid the long lines and heat of the day.  Then he made an impassioned speech for breakfast.  So they were in line for American Thunder but it was still a fast moving line.  Clarke and Lexa managed to get the back car, Anya and Linc were in the seats in front of them.

At the top of the lift hill, they raised their joined hands and Clarke, having just gotten a look at the drop shouted, “Oh, shit!”

Lexa laughed all the way down.

They rode every roller coaster in the park, American Thunder twice.  Clarke and Lexa split a pretzel, funnel cake, and a turkey leg all before lunch.  Lunch was chili dogs that Anya was sure they would regret but three rides later Clarke wanted ice cream.

After an exhausting day of chasing each other around a theme park they returned to their hotel.  In the morning, they would head to Little Rock.

\------

Little Rock was one of Lexa’s stops, part of her Civil Rights tour.  If they could have gotten anyone to seriously believe that either of them would ever actually go to college in Alabama, they would have gone to Selma and Birmingham.  There was a college in Arkansas near Little Rock Central High School that would be a possibility for attendance, so Clarke agreed to Little Rock because Lexa agreed to Austin.  

Since they were exhausted from a nearly seven hour drive, all they did was eat (Anya drank) before crashing in their hotel room.  In the morning, Lexa and Clarke walked over to the Clinton Presidential Library because it was right there.  Anya and Lincoln road the cable car.  

“The 90s were weird,” Clarke observed.

“A little, yeah,” Anya agreed.  “The cartoons were pretty great, though.”

They came to the Matthew Shepard section of the timeline.  Lexa fought off tears, Clarke didn’t.

Anya took them to lunch at the restaurant in the library where they talked with a group who had spent the morning at a place called Heifer International that provided livestock and training to communities around the world to supply them with a source of food and income.  Lexa was sold and insisted they go there next.  They took the tour, Lexa asked more questions than she typically asked when interacting with strangers.  Anya was surprised, Clarke was proud, Linc was bored.  Lexa left Heifer International with a lot of literature and an offer to come back and intern one summer during college.

\------

Hendrix was nice, small, and totally acceptable.  They didn’t feel good about the surrounding town, though.  They went back to Little Rock and visited Little Rock Central High before getting on the road to Dallas.  It was another one of those stops where Lexa was sad, Lincoln was angry, and Clarke cried.

Anya was tired, she let Clarke drive to Dallas.  Lincoln finally had to give up shotgun.  Lexa controlled the radio.

\------

Anya and Clarke planned a day in Dallas for one reason:  The Dallas Arboretum.

It was the most fun Lexa had on the whole trip.

They left for Austin as soon as Lexa would let them leave the gardens.

\------

“Look, I came along to see weird stuff and ride roller coasters and I’m all out of roller coasters,” Lincoln announced.  “We’re going to the Museum of the Weird.”

Anya groaned.  “Fine.”

“And the Cathedral of Junk,” he added.

Anya sighed, “Only because it’s your birthday.”

“Wait, it is?  How long have we been on this trip?”  Clarke asked.

“It’s the 26th, Linc can drive!”  Lexa hugged her cousin.  “Happy birthday!  I didn’t get you anything.”

“Which is why we’re going where I want to go and you three can’t complain all day,” Linc ordered.  “It’s my day!”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Anya groaned.

They did complain, but mostly just to annoy Linc, they all actually had a really good time.

That evening they rounded off Linc’s day of weird with a trip to the Congress Avenue Bridge to watch the bats at dusk.

He declared it one of his best ever birthdays.

“I like Austin,” Clarke told Lexa.  “We should come back someday.”

\-------

Saturday morning they got up and drove an hour and a half out of town to Longhorn Caverns.

Luckily they made it through without an appearance by Calamity Clarke.  They hiked the trail first before the day got too hot and went underground for the hottest portion of the day.  Lincoln and Lexa wanted to take the Wild Tour and crawl around in less public spaces.

Anya used her executive veto.

When they returned in the evening they decided to see _Up_ at the Alamo Drafthouse.  Everybody cried a lot.  When Linc pointed out that Anya was crying she hit him.

\-------

“I’m just saying, there’s a clothing optional beach!”  Linc was arguing.

“I’m just saying, not happening,” Lexa argued back.

“You don’t have to get naked!”

“You don’t have to be a perv!”

“I’m a sixteen year old boy, perving is my specialty!”

“Nobody wants to look at your skinny ass naked,” Anya pointed out.

Lexa vetoed every swimming suggestion.  She was just getting comfortable with her anatomy, risking someone noticing it at a public beach was not an option.  Especially since the thought of Clarke in a bikini was dangerous territory for Lexa.

They spent the day wandering Austin’s interesting shops instead.

\------

“I gotta say, canoes are not a medium I would have gone with,” Linc announces looking at the stacked boat statue.

The UT Austin tour was great.  Even Lincoln was half tempted to go there.

“It’s so big,” Clarke observed of the campus.

“That’s what she said!”  Lincoln laughed.

“Make it stop,” Clarke whined.

\------

It was only a two hour drive to Houston.  They arrived in time for dinner and went for barbecue.  It had been a day or two since they had barbecue.  It had been almost three weeks since they left New Orleans and Clarke was jonesing hard for a snoball and a po’ boy.  The more she thought about it, the more right she thought Lexa was, they belonged in New Orleans where being gay was just fine, the food was incredible, and the music was always good.  Even the wedding bands were good in New Orleans.  Yeah, Clarke was getting a little homesick.  She hadn’t been away this long since Katrina.

“Can we go to the Space Center, skip Rice and just go home?”  Clarke asked over a plate of ribs.

“Aw, does Clarke miss Creole food?”  Linc teased.

“I do,” Clarke said.  “I’m tired and I want to go home to snuggle up with my girlfriend in my own bed.”

“Ixnay on the girlfriend talk, we’re not in Austin anymore,” Linc said.

“Exactly,” Clarke rolled her eyes.

“As long as we get to go to the Space Center, I don’t care what else we do,” Lexa offered.

“We know, Commander,” Anya saluted.

\------

They visited both the Space Center and Rice.  Clarke insisted they just go home when they left the Rice campus.   

They had been gone twenty days.  

Clarke hugged her dad for a full ten minutes.  Jake started to wonder if he was going to have to go through the rest of his life with Clarke hugging him.  “Now I know how you feel,” he told Lexa with a grin.

“I don’t mind it,” Lexa admitted.  “I like the way she feels.”

“Speaking of,” Anya started.  Clarke and Lexa groaned.  

Lincoln grinned, “Clarke and Lexa are official!”

Gus handed Jake a twenty dollar bill and two twenties to Anya.

\------

In the morning, Clarke drove Lexa into the Quarter where they spent the day playing tourist at home where they didn’t feel weird holding hands while walking down the street or along the river.  They shared a po boy and an order of beignets.  When they found a snoball stand, Clarke ordered a Tiger’s Blood cup and Lexa ordered a birthday cake cup.  

Clarke kissed Lexa in Jackson Square and nobody cared.  It was good to be home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be honest, I got really bored with this chapter. There aren't really any chances for them to be alone and talk.


	19. July 2009:  Sweet Sixteen

“You do not want the Jordan kid in your house,” Jake was telling Gus.  “Rent a venue, hire a caterer.”

Clarke had been looking for her father to collect her allowance, she needed to go shopping for Lexa’s birthday present.  “What do you need a venue and a caterer for?”

“Oh, hey, Clarke,” Gus greeted too enthusiastically.

“Wouldn’t happen to be Lexa’s sweet sixteen, would it?”  Clarke pried.

“Better to tell her and have an ally than to try to keep her from snooping for two weeks,” Jake told his friend.

“Fine, yes.”

“I know just the place,” Clarke smiled.

\-------

Clarke had quietly distributed invitations to all of their friends.  It was a formal event.  Gus booked the Pavilion of Two Sisters at the Botanical Gardens in City Park and a caterer.  Clarke said she would handle the DJ.  Recently Monty had decided to DJ as a cover for his weed growing, he could afford all of the equipment because of the growing, but had a hard time explaining why he always had cash on hand.  Clarke helped him plan the perfect playlist.

Their friends had started referring to the event as 'Prom' as a way to keep from accidentally spoiling the surprise for the brunette.  Lexa was a little confused as to why her friends were obsessed with prom dresses nine months ahead of the junior prom.  But let it go because they were eccentric on a good day, certifiable on a bad day.

Clarke had the hardest job, formal wear shopping with Lexa under the guise of just trying on suits and gowns to get ideas for prom.

Clarke was enjoying her own private fashion show from the love of her life, tuxedos, suits, gowns.  She was relaxing in a chair just outside the dressing room of one boutique.  “Aren’t you going to try anything on?”

Clarke smiled at her love, “I’m waiting until you decide what you like so I can match you.”

“You’re so smart,” Lexa leaned down and kissed her.

Clarke hummed her agreement.  “What do you think, suit or gown?”

“I think I would prefer a dress, but a tux is more practical,” she sighed looking in the angled mirrors at the dress she was wearing.

“I want you to feel like the prettiest girl at the dance,” Clarke told her.

Lexa blushed, “That’s not possible, Clarke.  You’re always going to be the prettiest girl in the room.”  She kissed Clarke gently.

Three dresses later Lexa found a blue sheath dress she loved, there was however, the matter of a bulge.  Lexa was starting to tear up.

Clarke got to her feet and hugged Lexa from behind.  “Love, you look incredible, why are you upset?”

Lexa looked down.  In the mirror, Clarkes eyes followed Lexa’s to the slight bulge.

“Lex, that’s not a problem, we’ll just tuck it.  No problem,” Clarke soothed.

Lexa slipped back into the dressing room.  A moment later she emerged without the bulge.  “I don’t know what’s more upsetting.  Having the bulge, or tucking the bulge.”

“I think you’re the most beautiful girl in the world.”

Lexa smiled shyly at her.

“I think this is the dress,” Clarke said examining Lexa’s curves and gently running her hands down the brunette’s sides, resting them on her hips.

“I love it,” Lexa kissed Clarke again.  “It’s a little soon to be buying prom dresses, though.”

“It could be gone by prom and what if we can’t find anything you like as much in February,” Clarke was prepared for any argument.

“Okay, Princess, but when my Dad is giving me a hard time, I’m telling him you talked me into it.”

“That’s fair.”

\------

When the weekend passed without a major event, Lexa thought she was off the hook.  Then Clarke had woken her with soft kisses that morning and told her that they were going to dinner for her birthday and to wear the prom dress.

Lexa started to get suspicious but lost the thread of suspicion when they went downstairs.  In the Woods kitchen they found a big family breakfast for Lexa’s sixteenth birthday and presents on the table.  Gus insisted they eat first.  After the biscuits and gravy were consumed, Indra handed Lexa her gifts one at a time.  

Anya had put together a collage of pictures from the college road trip.  Jake had left her the most God awful floral towel he could find.  It was terrible.  Lexa laughed.  “ _You’ve always got to know where your towel is, Lex_ ,” the note read.

The last thing Indra handed her was a small box.  Inside Lexa found a set of car keys.  “Now you and Clarke can switch off driving to school,” Gus teased.  Lexa jumped up and hugged him and then Indra.

“Can I?”  She asked holding up the keys.

“Go.”

Lexa ran out the front door with Clarke hot on her heels.  In the driveway was a black 1999 Jeep Wrangler.  Lexa squeed.  If Clarke hadn’t been there to hear it, she would have never believe it.  “Get dressed!”  She called running back into the house.

A few minutes later they had the top off and were heading for the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway.  Nearly an hour later Lexa pulled into a nearly deserted Fontainebleau Beach on the north east side of the lake.  It was still early.

Clarke had been staring at Lexa for most of the ride, admiring how her chestnut curls lit up like molten bronze in the morning sun.  Lexa had pulled her mane into a ponytail on the way out of the house.  Clarke had woven hers into a loose braid before they turned onto the causeway.  With her hair up, Lexa’s slender neck and jaw were on display.  Clarke desperately wanted to kiss them both.  She wanted to know what the area just under the quarterback’s tiny ears tasted like.    There was no one around, the section of parking lot Lexa had pulled into was completely deserted.  Clarke weighed her options and her impulses got the better of her.  She surged forward and kissed Lexa’s neck.

The sharp surprised intake of breath from the brunette gave Clarke pause and she pulled away much sooner than she would have liked.

“Hi,” Clarke smiled wolfishly.

“Hello there,” Lexa chuckled.

“I’m sorry, the ADHD got the better of me and I just went for it,” Clarke stated nervously.

“Don’t be, it was nice, I was just surprised.  A little warning would have been good.”

“Okay, well,” Clarke began, “I really need to know what the area right under your tiny ears tastes like, so I’m going to find out, okay?”

Lexa’s tiny ears went strawberry red and her throat seized up at the thought, but she nodded.  

Clarke surged forward again, attaching her slightly parted lips to the quarterback’s perfect neck.  She poked her tongue against Lexa’s throat experimentally.  Lexa let slip a soft sound between a moan and a sigh.  Clarke tried an experimental gentle suck, that made Lexa moan.  Clarke broke her kiss and smiled against Lexa’s neck.

“Don’t be smug,” Lexa admonished.

“I’m not being smug.”

“You are, I can feel your smug smile on my neck.”

“Okay, maybe I’m a little smug.  I liked that sound.”

“What sound?”

Clarke sucked gently at Lexa’s neck again, the brunette moaned.

“That sound.”

“Ah,” Lexa cleared her throat nervously.

Clarke pulled away and settled back into the passenger seat.  “Don’t worry, Lex, we don’t have to do anything else, your neck was there and I have impulse control problems.”

“I liked it, obviously,” Lexa struggled to keep eye contact.  “I’m just _really_ nervous.”

“Lex, there’s no pressure and no rush.”

“I know,” Lexa struggled with the words.  She weighed whether or not to tell Clarke what she was doing in Dr. Birch’s office every week.   She didn’t think it was the time to tell her, it was her secret to keep for awhile longer.  “I don’t know what to say.”

“How about, you stay in control of physical advances?  I’ll try to control my impulses.”

“Don’t try too hard.  I’m always going to be scared and sometimes I might need an impulsive blonde to prompt me into action.”

“You won’t always be scared, Lex.  At least, I hope you won’t, because that would mean it’s me you’re afraid of,” Clarke’s expression was so soft and understanding that Lexa just wanted to dissolve into a puddle.

“I guess, I kind of am,”  Lexa struggled to make herself understood.  “You’re the most important person in my life.  You love me unconditionally.  I never feel like a freak when I’m with you.”

"You're not a freak," Clarke interjected and waited for Lexa to organize her thoughts and finish saying what she needed to say.

“I can’t lose you, Clarke.  I’m afraid I’m never going to get my shit together.  I’m afraid that you’ll eventually get tired of waiting for your broken girlfriend to . . .”

“I’m going to have to stop you.  Lexa, I’m never going to leave you.  I want you to take all of the time you need to.  You’re not broken, a little scratched and dented, maybe.  But not broken.”

“Clarke, I don’t know that I’m ever going to be comfortable with physical intimacy.”

Clarke reached out and grabbed Lexa’s hand.  “Are you comfortable with this?”

Lexa nodded.  

Clarke scooted as close as she could get to Lexa and cuddled up with her head tucked under Lexa’s chin.  “How about this, are you comfortable with this?”

“Of course I am, Clarke.  It’s not the same.”

Clarke kissed Lexa passionately.  She swiped her tongue along the brunettes bottom lip, Clarke had never kissed anyone like this, at least that she remembered, but she had a point to prove.  Lexa parted her lips and Clarke sent her tongue on a field trip to Lexa’s mouth.  Lexa took less than a second to get comfortable with the kiss and react positively.  In the midst of this incredible kiss, Lexa remembered the other time they had kissed like this.  It was less sloppy than that New Year’s and this time Clarke didn’t taste of champagne.  

It was the lack of air that forced them apart.  “How about that, are you comfortable with that?”

“So comfortable,” Lexa panted.  

“So, I think we’ve got good reason to think that eventually, you’ll be comfortable with further intimacy,”  Clarke sank back into the passenger seat.  “I’m sorry our first tongue kiss was me trying to prove a point.”

“It wasn’t the first,” Lexa whispered.  “New Year’s, I was thirteen and we were home alone with a bottle of champagne for the first time.”

“I thought that was a dream,” Clarke confessed.

“If it was we had the same dream,” Lexa replied.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I thought it was a dream, too.”  Lexa surged forward and kissed Clarke just as deeply as she had just been kissed.  It wasn’t fast or rushed, it was slow and intimate.  They explored each other without the kiss feeling like a battle.  When Lexa pushed, Clarke pulled, when Clarke tugged, Lexa gave.  Lexa thought she might finally understand the concept of euphoria.

Again the need to breathe freely drove them apart, but not without a fight from Clarke, as Lexa pulled away the blond tugged at the brunette’s plump bottom lip with her teeth.  Lexa tingled all over.  “Exquisite,” Lexa breathed.

“Yeah,” Clarke agreed.  They stared at each other for a long moment, faces close enough together that barely a nod would bring their lips back together.   “We should probably get back, we’ve got a big night to get ready for.”

“Just one more thing,” Lexa tipped forward again to bring their lips together one more time.

When they pulled apart Lexa slid back to sit properly in the driver’s seat and Clarke buckled her seat belt.  “See look how comfortable you are with that already,” the blonde smirked.

“Yeah, yeah, keep teasing and we don’t do it some more later.”  

\------

Lexa had spent an hour on the internet researching tucking.  She refused all offers of assistance, even Anya was refused entry.  Lexa thought it would be more emotionally taxing, but apparently her weekly appointments to interact with Alex really were making her more comfortable with handling it.  

When Lexa felt sure that Alex wouldn’t be making any unwanted appearances, she slipped on the sheath dress and admired her reflection.  There was a soft knock at the door.

“I’m fine, Anya,” she called.

“I’ll let her know,” Clarke’s voice came through the door.  Lexa moved quickly to open the door revealing a vision in a green form fitting dress.  Lexa had to think about her passing game as to not have an embarrassingly painful incident.  

“You look incredible,” Lexa complimented when she was in control again.

Clarke stepped forward, wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, and planted a small kiss on her lips.  Their fronts were pressed tightly together, Lexa had never been more aware of Clarke’s softness and curves.  She felt a stirring in her groin.

Lexa started muttering, “O'Brien, Bertelli, Lujack, Hornung, Baker, Staubach . . .”

“Lex?”

“Huarte, Spurrier.  Hmmm?”

“What are you doing?”

“Listing all of the Heisman winning quarterbacks.”

“Why?

“Because I need a distraction or I’ll be in a lot of pain.”

“Ah,” Clarke released Lexa and turned to the door.  “We should get going.”

Lexa made the mistake of looking at Clarke as she walked away.  “Beban, Plunkett, Sullivan, Flutie . . .”

\-------

While there was still daylight, and Clarke needed to give everyone an hour to get ready and over to the venue, she drove them over to the City Park and parked by the Storyland sign as far from the Pavilion as she could so that Lexa didn’t recognize the cars of any of their friends who were already on site finishing the party preparations.  There was another party underway in the Conservatory and the gardens behind it.  Clarke was a little disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to walk with Lexa through those gardens but knew that they would have access to the Rose Garden from the pavilion.  They were standing in front of the Conservatory fountain taking a selfie when a pair of visitors stopped.

“You both look beautiful.  Would you like me to snap a couple of pictures for you?”  The middle aged woman asked.

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” Clarke said handing the woman her phone with the camera open.

Clarke and Lexa posed innocently with their arms around each other.  The woman snapped a few pictures before her husband spoke.  “Oh just kiss her, don’t waste this light.  You won’t offend us.’

“Reminds me of Sarah’s first cotillion, what was that sweet girls name?”  The woman mused.

“Andie, Angie, Annie,” the husband said.  “Something with an “An” sound.  The Country Club didn’t think she was so sweet.”

“Well the Country Club shouldn’t have tried to bar them from entering as a couple.  Bunch of tight asses if you ask me,” the woman said.

Lexa laughed.  Clarke, embolden by Lexa’s laugh and their new friends encouragement, spun the brunette around and kissed her sweetly.  

“Perfect,” the woman said.  “Will we see you at the fundraiser inside?”

“Oh, no ma’am,” Clarke answered.  “We’ve got a special dinner of our own to get to, but my darling girl is a big fan of flowers so I wanted to bring her by for a few minutes first.”

“Aren’t you just the sweetest thing,” the woman smiled.  “How long have you been together?”

“Well, I proposed when I was eight, so it’s a really long engagement,” Clarke smiled.

“I guess so,” the husband laughed.

“Remy, give me a card,” the woman told her husband.  He pulled his wallet out of his linen blazer pocket and fished out a business card.

“When you get married, call me, even if you hire a different baker,” the woman said as Remy handed Lexa a card that read:  Delphine’s Delights, Wedding Cakes and More, Delphine Landry, with a phone number.

“Are you one of those Landry’s or just a Landry?”  Clarke grinned.

“We’re all related one way or another,” the husband grinned back.

Clarke slid the card into her clutch.  “It’s lovely to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Landry, I’m Clarke Griffin and my fiancee is Lexa Woods.”  Clarke held out her hand to shake.

“I knew you looked familiar, I’ve seen your photo on your mother’s desk,” Mr. Landry said taking the proffered hand.

“Dr. Griffin, at Tulane?” Mrs. Landry asked.

Clarke nodded, “Yes ma’am.”

“Most people just say they’re sure your parents are very proud, I happen to know it’s true,” he laughed.  “I’m in cardiology.”  

“My mother speaks very highly of you,” she says.  “So does Lexa’s sister, you gave a lecture to the medical students back in the spring.”

“I give a lecture to the first years every spring,” he confirmed.  “Are you heading to Tulane soon?”

“Two more years, I think I’m going to go law instead of medical, though.”

“Very good, what about you, Miss Woods?”  Mrs. Landry asked.

“Public service, I think,” Lexa was surprisingly confidant around the strangers.

“Tulane’s public service program is excellent,” Dr. Landry observed.

“It is,” Lexa agreed.

“We should get inside,” Mrs. Landry said to her husband, then turned back to the girls.  “If you would like to take a spin around the gardens, just tell them that you’re our guests.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Landry,” Lexa smiled.

“Oh, call me Delphi,” she scoffed.  “Mrs. Landry makes me feel old.  I look forward to seeing you two again, soon.”

“Us, too,” Clarke said.  The Landry’s steered off toward the Conservatory and the girls moved off toward the Pavilion.

“Shouldn’t we be getting to dinner,” Lexa asked.  “What time is our reservation?”

“We have time,” Clarke answered.  As they got closer to the Pavilion they heard music playing.  Clarke knew it was possible that the whole surprise could be spoiled if one of their friends called out to another from this range.  Luckily they made it to the front of the Pavilion without the surprise being ruined.  Later Clarke would learn that Jasper had spotted them through the trees and kept lookout for them.  When Clarke opened the door and ushered a confused Lexa inside, she saw the crowd beyond the doors a split second before they yelled “SURPRISE!”.

After the hugs, birthday wishes, and thank yous were exchanged they checked out the buffet of some of Lexa’s favorite foods, including many of Clarke’s because they had reached a point where they shared everything, including taste buds.  They passed crab cakes back and forth while bemoaning that Lexa’s birthday was a month too late for crawfish season.

As the pair made their way to the dance floor where many others were already dancing, the current song was winding down.  As Clarke wrapped an arm around Lexa’s waist Monty cued up Ringo Starr's ‘You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful, and You're Mine)’.  There may have been many other people in the pavilion but Clarke and Lexa couldn’t see anyone but each other.

 

They danced with their foreheads together to the Rolling Stone’s ‘She’s a Rainbow’, Lexa smiled as Clarke sang along softly just for her.

As the song ended Gus cut in, “My I have the next dance with the birthday girl?”  

Clarke agreed reluctantly and saw Jake waiting to claim a dance with his daughter to Wilco’s ‘My Darling’.  It hadn’t been on her list so she guessed that the fathers went to Monty for a father daughter dance song and he picked Wilco.

“Happy Birthday, Monkey,” Gus smiled as his baby girl.  “I guess all I’ve got to look forward to now is the father daughter dance at your wedding?”

“I don’t get another one of these when I turn eighteen?”

“You ever heard anybody say Sweet Eighteen?”

“I guess not,” Lexa said.  “We’ll just have to start going to the hospital benefit balls.”

“You keep that up and I’ll think you’re fond of me,” Gus joked.

“You’re the best dad I’ve ever had.”

“Does that make Jake number two?”

“I heard that!”  Jake spoke from behind Lexa.

“You were meant to,” Gus grinned.

\------

The night was winding down, the parents had headed home some time ago leaving half of the football team, all of the Delinquents and their plus ones, and a dozen or so other kids from school.  Bow ties were untied and hanging loose on necks, suit jackets were hanging on chair backs, heels were tossed under chairs as the girls who had worn them danced barefoot.  Monty was dancing with Nathan, Clarke was pretty sure there was something going on there.  Lincoln and Luna were making out at a table in the back.  Murphy had spent the evening going back and forth between a female redhead and a ash blonde guy flirting.  Neither seemed aware of the other.  Raven had disappeared with a guy from her chemistry class, Clarke didn’t want to know.  Harper and Zoe were dancing together, but it seemed more friendly than coupley.  Atom, one of Lexa’s wide receivers, had been checking Harper out all night and she thought Harper had been checking him out, too.  Zoe kept sneaking glances at someone on the other side of the pavilion. Several football players and members of the girls soccer team were over there.  Jasper had been striking out with every girl he talked to, Clarke felt a little sorry for him.

Clarke was sitting at a table with someone's, Nathan she thought, suit coat draped over her bare shoulders, waiting for Lexa to return with beverages.  She knew the girl kept getting stopped by friends who hadn’t had a chance to wish her a happy birthday yet and didn’t mind.  It gave her time to survey the crowd.

Murphy dropped into the seat next to her.  “What’s up, Princess?”

“Hi John,” she grinned.  “Did you get both their numbers?”

Murphy smirked, “Yep.”

“You give bisexuals a bad reputation, you know?”

“I am a young man with healthy appetites, would you give me shit if I was just interested in one gender?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s okay, then.”

Lexa returned and sat down two drinks before she dropped into the chair on the other side of Clarke.  “Hey, love,” Clarke kissed her cheek.

“You two are giving me diabetes,” Murphy complained.   “Do you have to be so fucking sweet all the time?”

“Yes,” Lexa answered.  “What’s the matter, Murph, nobody willing to kiss you hello?”

“I got two numbers tonight,” Murphy defended.

“Numbers aren’t really the same as affection,” Lexa said wrapping an arm around Clarke who leaned in to her.  “Didn’t we discuss this in group?”

“Maybe,” Murphy groaned.  “I gotta go get some insulin.”  Murphy got up and wandered back to the guy he’d been flirting with all night since the girl seemed to have left.

“Thank you for tonight,” Lexa kissed the top of Clarke’s head.  “I know this was your idea.”

“I just suggested the location,” Clarke told her.  “The ‘rents did the rest.”

“It’s perfect, but I’m tired.  Want to take me home and give me kisses?”

“I can’t think of a better way to end the day,” Clarke gathered her things and held a hand out to Lexa.  “Hey Monty, we’re calling it a night.  You’ve got to be out by midnight.”

Monty gave her a thumbs up and looked at his watch.  Raven appeared from wherever it was she had absconded off to, “I’ll make sure everyone gets out.”

“Thanks, Rae,” Lexa said accepting a hug from the Latina.

\------

“Clarke,” Lexa called from the blonde’s en suite bathroom.

“Yes, dear,” Clarke answered through the door.

“I need help.”

“Okay, can I come in?”  Clarke had barely gotten her shoes and jewelry off.

“Please.”

Clarke opened the door to a flustered looking Lexa, makeup off, but her dress had obviously been quickly put back on.  “What’s the problem?”

Lexa sighed, she thought she should be more embarrassed than she was but at this point she was just really tired and wanted to get it over with so she could pee.  “I need you to pull off the tape on my back.”

Lexa hadn’t been the only one doing tucking research earlier today so Clarke didn’t need to ask why there was tape on Lexa’s lower back.  “Okay, love.  How do you want to go about this?”

Lexa groaned.  There wasn’t enough dress for her to have worn a bra, she had slipped boxer briefs on over her tuck job which had been covered most of the night by a borrowed pair of Clarke’s underwear.  They were still on under the boxer briefs Lexa had put on for modesty's sake.  She turned around and began to pull the sheath over her head again.

Clarke tried like hell to not look at Lexa’s chest in the mirror.  

“Clarke?”  Lexa had crossed her arms over her chest and they had mostly done the job, but Clarke caught a glimpse of the muscle tone of the brunette’s abdominal area.

Clarke was staring at the floor feeling like a perv, “Can you face the shower or something?”

“Huh? Ok,”  Lexa moved around behind Clarke and faced the shower.

“I just really don’t think it’s okay for me to drool over your body.”

“I covered up.”

“Your abs, Lex.  Very drool worthy.”

“Oh,”  Lexa winced slightly.

“God, Lex, I’m sorry!  I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s not you, it’s Alex.  Please get the tape off.”

Clarke examined the strip of tape running from under Lexa’s boxers up the center of her lower back.  It was secured in place with two strips running horizontally.  Clarke pried up one end of the top horizontal strip and peeled it off carefully.  To get the second strip was partially below the waistband of Lexa’s underwear.  

“I have to move these,” Clarke told her pushing the band down some.  The first thing Clarke saw were the dimples on Lexa’s lower back, the second thing she saw distracted her from the very attractive dimples.  “Lex, are those my panties?”

Lexa turned red, “Um, I couldn’t wear mine, the seams were visible under the dress.”  Panicked Lexa was getting ready to make an appearance.  “It’s so wrapped up, it’s not actually touching your underwear.”

“It’s okay, Lex.  I’m kind of . . . into it.”

Lexa’s breathing hitched.  “Please get the tape off.”

“Lex?”

“Please, Clarke, I’m in pain.” 

Clarke seemed to finally understand and carefully peeled off the second horizontal strip, then peeled the vertical strip as far as she could without touching anything she didn’t have the express permission to touch.  “I’m going to go . . .”

Clarke slipped out of the bathroom and spent a minute leaned against the closed door trying to control her now raging hormones.

****

Lexa pulled off both pairs of underwear and finished pulling the tape to release her genitals back where they naturally hung.  Well almost.  She was sporting a semi and was so relieved to have Alex free from the constraints that she didn’t immediately start thinking of lists to make it soft again.  She stood there, naked in Clarke’s bathroom and took a long look at her body in the mirror.  She was pleased with most of what she saw.  She had never contemplated her abs before, they were a side effect of her daily workout routines, not something she actively developed.  But knowing how Clarke felt about them was a reason to make sure they didn’t fade away.  Her breasts were good, small but nicely shaped, Lexa thought they were probably appealing.  Her hips were nice, she knew Clark was a fan of her hips by how often the blonde used them to pull her in for a kiss.  She noted Alex’s partial state.  Lexa allowed herself to contemplate what Clarke’s thoughts were on her body.  Alex came up to full attention, _Shit_.

“O'Brien, Bertelli, Lujack, Hornung, Baker, Staubach, Huarte.” Alex continued to point out like the worlds shittiest divining rod, _Dude, this isn’t funny_ .  “Spurrier, Beban, Plunkett, Sullivan, Flutie, Testaverde, Ware, Detmer,” _I am not touching myself in my girlfriend's bathroom_.  “Torretta, Ward, Wuerffel, Weinke, Crouch, Palmer, White, Leinart, Smith, fucking Tebow, Bradford,” she ran out of Heisman winning quarterbacks and Alex was still a lot stiffer than she would like.

“Tulane, TCU, Santa Clara, Santa Clara, TCU, Texas A&M, Boston College, Fordham, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Duke, Oklahoma State, Georgia,” Alex started to soften.  “Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech, Navy,” and Alex was done.   _Navy, really?  Semen shut you down?  That’s kind of hilarious._  Lexa slipped on her clean boxer briefs and pajamas.  Then pulled her hair into a tight bun and brushed her teeth.

****

Clarke could hear Lexa listing football players.  She felt kind of good about that.  She turned to the dresser and pulled out pajamas.  Listening, she could hear Lexa listing NCAA teams.   _Damn, at least I’m not the only one_.  

When the bathroom door opened, Clarke was standing in front of the dresser in nothing but a pair of Lexa’s boxer briefs.  She really hadn’t intended to be mostly naked when Lexa walked back into the bedroom, it just took a minute to decide to wear a pair of underwear that Lexa would identify as hers.  She saw Lexa avert her eyes as the blonde pulled her favorite sleeping shirt over her head.

Lexa turned around and walked back into the bathroom and closed the door.

Clarke didn’t mean to laugh, she really didn’t.  It was just so absurd.

“ _Clarke_ ,” Lexa’s embarrassed voice came through the door.

“I’m sorry, love, I’m not laughing at you, it’s just so ridiculous,” Clarke laughed again.  “When did we turn into horny perverts.”

“Apparently when we rolled out of bed this morning,” Lexa’s voice came through the door with a little bit of a laugh.

“What football teams were you listing?”

“You heard that?  That’s not embarrassing, at all”  Clarke heard Lexa bang her head on the door.  “Sugar Bowl winners.”

“Lex?”

“Hmmm?”  Lexa hummed through the door.

“I love you.”

The bathroom door opened.  Lexa came out and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend.  “I love you, too.”

“Come cuddle me.”

“Are you going to wear my underwear?”

“You wore mine all evening.”

“ _Clarke_.”

“Lexa,” Clarke teased tugging Lexa to the bed.  “Cuddle with me.”

They climbed into bed and lay on their sides facing each other.  There was a long moment of them just staring at one another.

“Do you have any idea how much I love you?”  Clarke whispered.

Lexa swallowed and nodded.  Slowly she reached up and caressed Clarke’s cheek.  “I love you to the stars and back.”

They leaned in for a gentle kiss.

“Good night, Clarke.”

“Goodnight, Lexa,” Clarke tucked her head under Lexa’s chin and softly kissed her neck before snuggling in to sleep.

  
  
  
  
  



	20. Fall 2009 - Spring 2010

It was the first day of football practice, Lexa’s sixteenth birthday was two days ago.  Coach Titus called her into is office as soon as he saw her this morning and informed her she was the new Captain.

The team was in the locker room in their team t-shirts and running shorts.  Lexa strolled in holding a clipboard Titus had given her earlier.

“Commander on deck!”  Sterling shouted to the rest of the team.  

“Seriously?”  Lexa asked.

“Seemed cooler than ‘chick in the boys locker room’,” he shrugged.  

“In that case, I’ll take it,” Lexa nodded.  She shifted her attention to the rest of the team.  They had obviously gotten the memo.  “First, for the rest of the season, we’re moving these meetings into the video room because it smells foul in here.”

“Seconded,” Lincoln called from the back.

“Moving on,” Lexa looked over the roster.  “I want to win State this year.  With this team, we can do it.  You show up every day and do the work and I’ll make sure you get that championship ring.”

Some of the defensive guys looked unsure but the starting offense shared a grin.

“Let’s go for a run to get warmed up,” Lexa led them out of the field house and down to the track around the field.  They did two miles before the coaching staff came out and divided offense from defense to start some drills.

Two hours later they went into the field house for lunch.  Clarke and Luna were sitting in the video room with bags of what Lexa correctly assumed was food.  

“Hey, love.” Clarke jumped up to hug and kiss her girlfriend.  The rest of the team whistled and hooted.

“That’s a mile,” Lexa called.  “Anybody want to go for two?”

“Sorry, Commander,” Artigas, a wide receiver, apologized.  “We shouldn’t be disrespecting your girlfriend.”  Several other guys chimed in with ‘sorry’s’.

Clarke raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend.  Luna smirked as Lincoln came up to greet her.

“What did you bring us?”  Lexa asked.

Lincoln was peeking in a bag, “Oh, I love you both so much!”  He pulled out a whole muffaletta and sniffed at it in an manner that could only be described as lovingly.  “You too sexy, I can’t wait to get you inside me.”  Lincoln unwrapped the sandwich and shoved most of a quarter into his gullet in one bite.

“You are so weird,” Lexa laughed pulling out her favorite, a Greek salad with a grilled chicken breast.  “You on the other hand,” she said to Clarke, “are brilliant and I love you.”

Clarke smiled, she never got tired of Lexa telling her that she loved her.  Clarke just loved Lexa.  She loved to look at her, she loved to talk to her, she loved to cuddle her, she loved to watch her play football, she loved to watch her read while Clarke played with her fingers, she even loved to watch her eat.  Everyone knew how much Clarke loved food, because the blonde tended to make a big deal over the food she ate, people tended to notice her and not Lexa.  Lexa would bob her head if it was good, something really good would send her head tilting from side to side.  Something that was unexpected and not in a good way was accompanied by her nose crinkling.  Things she didn’t like at all usually inspired a look of wide eyed panic while she tried to figure out the best way to get the food out of her mouth.  

Lexa was tilting her head from side to side while she demolished her salad.  Clarke smiled affectionately at her.  Lexa glanced up to see Clarke’s adoring expression.  She grinned back, “What?”

“I just love you,” Clarke told her.

“I love you, too.”

“We all love Clarke,” Atom called from across the room.  “She keeps the Commander from killing us.”

A couple of the guys chuckled.   

\------

**August 2009**

First game of the season, school had started two weeks ago and Lexa was eager to log her first win of the year.  She walked out to meet the opposing team's Captain on the field.  They were playing one of the Catholic schools from in the city.  They shook hands, Lexa called heads and won the toss.  “We’ll receive,” she told the ref.”  Lexa liked to draw first blood, and she liked to draw first blood in their first possession.  Half of Lexa’s game was to shake up the other team in the beginning and keep them unbalanced the rest of the game.

Lexa lined up behind Tristan, her Center.  “How we doin’?”

“It’s gonna be a bloodbath,” he grinning menacingly at the defense.

“To WAR!!!”  Lexa shouted and Tristan snapped the ball.  

Artigas was twenty yards out and breaking into the clear when Lexa released the ball.  He picked it out of the air and got it into the cradle in one smooth move.  The fans in the stands would later swear that his feet never actually touched the ground, but that he floated across the goal line.  Lexa looked to Clarke in the stands and tapped her heart with her right hand three times.  Clarke blew her a kiss and Lexa melted.  Jake and Gus laughed while Anya rolled her eyes.  It was a good thing she had a few minutes to hang around on the sidelines and regain her badass composure.  

\------

By the fourth quarter, they were up 45 -14.  Lexa had taken the entire third quarter off and now a third string sophomore was getting a few minutes of play time.  Lexa felt someone pat her butt and turned to give someone a stern look, only to find her gorgeous girlfriend had slipped down to the sideline and was hiding among the much larger linebackers.  

“Hello, love,” Lexa smiled.

“Hey, honey,” Clarke grinned.

“If Titus sees you he’s going to have a stroke.”

“I don’t think he likes me,” Clarke grinned.

“Woods!”  Coach shouted.

Clarke disappeared into the linebackers who covered her escape.

“Yeah, Coach?”  Lexa worked her way back to Titus.

“Get in there and get one more touchdown.”

“We’ve already humiliated them, Coach,”  Lexa began.

“I said get in there and score again.”

“Yes, Coach,” she said.  “First string, back in!”

Lexa lined up behind Tristan, “What the hell, Lex?”

“Coach wants dominance, I think it’s a bad idea,” Lexa said.  “Hot dog.”  Their call shorthand had gotten interesting this year.  Hot Dog, also called sausage, coney, jack rabbit, and doxie were all the same play.  It was Lexa doing a tuck and run.

Tristan snapped the ball, Lexa dropped back and pretended to look for an available wide receiver.  Both Artigas and Atom were well covered, Tristan knocked open the hole she needed and Lexa went right down the middle.

“GO, LEXA, GO!!!”  She could hear Clarke.  The rest of the people in the stadium were shouting “COMMANDER!”   Lexa passed the goal line and took a quick bow, which only encouraged more cheers.

\------

Possibly the most convenient thing about football season was that on the nights Clarke and Lexa shared a bed, Lexa was too tired to be accidentally aroused by her girlfriend.  Lexa wasn’t the only one relieved by this.  Clarke really didn’t want to pressure Lexa and morning wood was already hard to ignore.  Truth be told, Clarke was rubbing one out a couple of times a week, when she was alone.  She felt bad because she didn’t know that Lexa was rubbing one out once a week, for science.  Clarke was thinking about Lexa, though. Clarke thought about her abs and her lips and the morning wood that she had woken up to many times and pretended to ignore.  Clarke didn’t know that recently, Lexa created baby goo thinking of Clarke’s eyes and soft sighs when they made out.

\------

**October 2009**

The fall flew by.  As promised, Lexa led the team to the top of their conference.  By late October (Clarke’s favorite time of the year as it was her seventeenth birthday and Halloween.), it was clear that they were in the playoffs and favored to go to the state championship game.  

Clarke’s seventeenth birthday fell on a Saturday, as Jake still refused to allow Jasper Jordan in his house (The places Jasper was still allowed to enter was limited to places that charged admission.), Jake went with pizza, laser tag, and go karts.  Anya and Jake won again.  Lexa made sure Clarke won every turn around the go kart track.

That evening they climbed into Clarke’s bed too exhausted to do more than exchange gentle kisses.

\------

For the Jordan Halloween party, Lincoln was Captain Mal, Luna was Inara, Clarke was Wash, Lexa was Zoe, Monty was Jayne, and Nathan was Shepherd Book.  Clarke got the giggles every time Nate and Monty kissed because Book was kissing Jayne. Lexa look damned sexy in that leather vest and gun belt.  

Murphy showed up late in the evening as Badger.  All queries as to where he had been and what he had been up to were ignored.

\-------

**Winter 2009**

Thanksgiving was a celebration of Lexa’s first championship ring.

Over Christmas Break, the Delinquents went to see _The Princess and the Frog_ as a group.  Clarke and Lexa objected to the stereotypes, but otherwise enjoyed it.  

Luna declared, “Tiana is the best Disney Princess ever!  Suck it Cinderella!”

“Because she’s creole, like you?”  Jasper asked stupidly.

“No you racist ass, because she makes beignets!”  Luna scolded.

\------

**March 2010**

Spring Break was coming.  Jasper had convinced his parents to let the Delinquents stay at their beach house in Gulf Shores.  Abby had been reluctant to say yes.  Gus and Jake didn’t want to think about the things Abby was considering and trusted their girls to make good choices.  They always made good choices when they were together.

Clarke had a harder time convincing Lexa to say yes than she did Abby.  Lexa did not put on swimwear in public.  She believed that anyone who saw her in a bikini top and trunks would automatically be aware of her genitalia.  No amount of talking could convince Lexa that her penis was not plainly obvious to anyone who saw her in swimming trunks.

Clarke tried a new tactic, “You can wear a t-shirt too and claim modesty.  I mean, if other girls got a look at those abs, they would be throwing themselves at you.”

“And they would run screaming when they noticed I have a penis.”

“Probably not, I’ve seen those abs.”

“Clarke,” Lexa said softly.

“I know, Lex.  I know.  I love you and I want to spend a week on a private beach with you without our families.”

“Linc will be there,” Lexa pointed out.

“Fine, without our parents.”

“Promise me that if I’m not comfortable, you’ll let me stay in the house and watch television or something.”

“I promise.”

\-------

Murphy and Jasper rode with Clarke and Lexa in the Jeep.  They had the top off rolling down I-10 with the radio turned up.  Jasper wore goggles after catching one too many rides in Lexa’s Jeep and getting bugs or someone’s hair in his eyes.  Sunglasses were for normal people.

Monty and Nathan rode with Linc and Luna in Lincoln’s Explorer.  Most of their luggage was packed in the Explorer, as well.  Harper and Atom rode with Raven in her personally restored ‘69 Camaro.  Raven loved that car like Clarke loved Lexa.  The Delinquents knew more about a Chevy 427 V8 than any non-grease monkey should ever be aware.  Clarke refused to get in it, convinced that Raven defiled herself in it every night and since Clarke knew a little something about defiling herself on the regular . . . She probably shouldn’t think like that with the boys in the backseat.

\------

It was still early in the day when they arrived in Gulf Shores.  Lexa drew the short straw to make the grocery store stop, so they pulled into a grocery store and had to wrangle Jasper and get a weeks worth of food at the same time.  

The beach house was huge and right on the beach.  The houses on that end were far enough apart to have a reasonable expectation of privacy, which made Lexa feel a little better.  She still wasn’t eager to spend much time on the beach.

They unloaded the groceries and agreed to meet the others on the beach after they settled in.  Linc had carried their bags up and put them in their room.  Being the last to arrive, they didn’t get the best room, their window faced the highway instead of the beach, but they had an en suite bathroom, so that was a win.  Clarke suspected Linc made sure they had a private bath for Lexa’s sake.  They shifted things around and paused for a short make out session before finishing getting the bags sorted.  

When they were done, Clarke begged Lexa to put on swimwear go down to the beach with her.  “You don’t have to get in the water, just put on trunks and a top in case you do feel comfortable,” Clarke cajoled.  “If you don’t feel comfortable, you can come back in.”

“Okay, go get changed,” Lexa agreed.  It was hard to deny Clarke anything.

Clarke grabbed a suit out of the top of her bag and rushed into the bathroom to change.

A few moments later, Clarke exited the en suite bathroom to see Lexa topless and tying up her trunks.  The quarterback looked up at the sound of the door and froze.  Clarke couldn’t help but to gape at her incredibly attractive girlfriend’s perfect breasts and abdominal muscles.  

“Clarke,” Lexa whispers with a tone Clarke doesn’t recognize.  It’s not fear and it’s not embarrassment, though, so Clarke lets her first impulse have this one.  She does see Lexa’s eyes roaming her bikini clad skin and correctly assumes that the unknown tone was want.

She moves swiftly to kiss the brunette deeply, bare skin pressed against nearly bare skin.  Clarke let a mildly obscene moan slip at the feel of a half naked Lexa pressed against her with the brunette’s hands holding the blonde close at the waist.  Lexa changed the angle and deepened the kiss, two pairs of hands started roaming the PG sections of exposed skin.  

Then something entirely unexpected happened, Lexa took one of Clarke’s hands and guided it up to her naked breast.  Clarke moaned again, this one was more than mildly obscene.  Lexa released a small breathy sound.  Clarke marveled at the smoothness of Lexa’s skin, the softness of her breast, the way it felt to her fingers.  Clarke slid her thumb gently across the brunette’s hardening nipple.  Clarke swallowed another of Lexa’s breathy moans.

Clarke slid her other hand up Lexa’s side and onto her other breast.  She pulled her lips away from Lexa’s and attached them to her neck just under the brunette’s ear.  Clarke got to hear that breathy moan without it being dampened by her mouth.  Speaking of dampening, the sounds escaping Lexa caused Clarke to soak her bikini bottoms.  “Unhook my top,” the blonde whispered into Lexa’s ear.  Lexa slid her hands up to the hook of Clarke’s bikini top and unhooked it in one quick move.  Before Lexa could even move her hands Clarke had released one of Lexa’s breasts from her gentle massage and pulled her arm through one strap of the top.  She switched hands, thumbing Lexa’s nipple with her other hand while letting the bikini fall to the ground.  She pulled Lexa close so that their naked chests could press together while Clarke returned to Lexa’s waiting lips.

Lexa was over the moon, Clarke’s gentle touch was incredible.  The feeling of their naked breasts pressing together, their desperate kisses.  Lexa needed to touch Clarke’s full breasts.  She was so consumed by the thought of Clarke exposed to her that she was mostly unaware of her hard penis pressing against Clarke’s pelvis.  Clarke was aware, and it only aroused her further.  Lexa slipped her hands between them and moved one to each breast.  Mimicking the massage and nipple swipes that Clarke had been performing on Lexa’s breasts.  Clarke moaned, it wasn’t even obscene, it was pornographic, as Clarke ground her pelvis against Lexa’s.  The quarterback was suddenly very aware of her hard penis pressed against Clarke.  The blonde’s naked breasts in her hands were far more pleasing and distracting than her unwanted penis was disturbing.  The feeling of Clarke rubbing against it was overwhelming.

Lexa was briefly disappointed when Clarke disconnected their lips and tongues.  She forgot her disappointment entirely when Clarke re-attached herself to Lexa’s nipple.  It was Lexa’s turn to release an obscene moan, it only spurred Clarke on, the blonde gently thumbed one nipple while licking and sucking on the other.  Lexa slid one hand away from Clarke’s exquisite breasts to touch Clarke’s cheek and slide her fingers through her soft blonde hair.  Clarke hummed her pleasure into Lexa’s nipple.

Clarke released Lexa’s nipple with a slight nip before moving back up to the brunette’s plump lips.  Lexa felt Clarke pulling her over to the bed.  The blonde sat down and pulled Lexa with her.  Clarke scooted back leading Lexa with her lips, hands exploring torsos with abandon.  When Clarke deemed herself far enough on the bed, she laid back and pulled Lexa on top of her.  Lexa kept one hand pushing against the mattress to keep from having to drop her whole weight onto the blonde.  

Their kisses continued, wet and deep, exploring each others torsos.  Clarke splaying her hands against the brunette's abs, Lexa gently kissing Clarke’s full breasts.  Clarke moaned happily when Lexa sucked a nipple into her mouth.  The quarterback shifted up and began licking and gently sucking Clarke’s neck while rolling a nipple between her thumb and forefinger.  Lexa adored the sounds coming from Clarke.

Lexa began to shift for a better position and Clarke spread her legs allowing Lexa to slip between them and bent her knees up to improve the angle.  Clarke felt Lexa’s hard cock pressing against her slick center through two layers of clothes.  The moan that escaped Clarke’s lips was hands down the sexiest thing Lexa had ever heard.  The brunette could feel how hot Clarke’s center was even if she couldn’t feel the wetness.  Clarke ground up against her and Lexa moaned out her pleasure.  Lexa ground down against Clarke, both of them practically exploding with pleasure.  One of Clarke’s hands grabbed at the brunette’s shoulder, the other thumbed the nipple of a perfect breast.  They found a rhythm and grinded together through two layers of clothes, each moaning into the others mouths.  Lexa began to feel a familiar tightness in her groin.  Clarke felt a familiar pressure building, she pushed up harder and faster.  Lexa kept up with the blonde’s rhythm.  Clarke’s neck rolled back and her head pressed down into the bed as her whole body went rigid with her orgasm.  Lexa reached orgasm at the guttural sound that ripped from Clarke’s chest, she came more than she ever did in the doctors office.  

The high breathy sigh that escaped Lexa as she came was Clarke’s new favorite sound in the world.  The orgasm they shared was so much better than any either had ever experienced before.

Lexa collapsed onto Clarke’s chest, her head off to one side with her lips next to Clarke’s ear as they panted and recovered from their mutual orgasms.  As she recovered, Lexa began to place small kisses on the side of Clarke’s face and neck.

“That,” Clarke’s breathing was still a little labored.  “That was amazing, I saw fireworks, they didn’t make that up.”

Lexa chuckled in Clarke’s ear.

“Oh, don’t do that or we’ll have to go again,” Clarke admitted.

Lexa raised herself up on one arm and kissed Clarke softly.

“How are you?”  The blonde had concern in her eyes.

“Right now?  I feel good, that was really great, like, so great!  It was great!”  The smile on Lexa’s face was radiant.

“So it was great then?”

“Clarke, don’t tease, my brain is still rebooting.”

“I just want to make sure that you’re okay with what happened.”

“I think so.  I’m kind of thinking about doing it again, so I think it’s okay.”

“Right now?”

“Maybe later, I need some Gatorade and to clean up before this dries.”

“We should probably get down to the beach before we’re accused of, well, doing what we did.”

Lexa kissed Clarke again, it was gentle and sweet, “I love you.  You are the most beautiful girl in the world.”

“I love you too, Lex.  So much.  You would tell me if you weren’t okay?”

“Of course I would, my love.”

****

Lexa got first run at the bathroom, luckily Clarke had brought four pairs of trunks to hopefully find some that Lexa would consent to wear.  She pulled off and rinsed the pair she had been wearing when she . . . had sex with Clarke?  There wasn’t any penetration, they never even exposed their genitals, but they both certainly orgasmed as a result of the others actions, right?  Lexa used a warm wet cloth to clean the drying semen off of her skin and out of her pubic hair where it had been rubbed in.  She really thought she would feel more disgusted by this process.  Instead, she was a little giddy.  She still didn’t want to let Clarke see her penis or interact with it further, but she felt good about what they had done.  She stepped into the clean trunks and realized her top was still in the bedroom.  Clarke had already sucked on her breasts, no point in hiding them now.  She walked back into the bedroom where Clarke was waiting wearing a different bikini top than before and the matching bottoms in her hand.

She raked her eyes over Lexa’s form and gave her a wolfish grin.

“I left my top in here,” Lexa shrugged with a smirk.  She paused as Clarke headed for the bathroom, “Clarke, what did we do?”

“Um,” Clarke thought about it.  She searched her vocabulary for a word that fit and came up blank.  She took the words she knew and formed a new one.   “Outercourse?  Dry humping sounds so crass.  We certainly stimulated each other, sexually.  Are you okay with that?”

Lexa smiled, “I am, I just felt like we needed to, I don’t know, clarify.”

Clarke kissed her and slipped into the bathroom to clean up and change her bottoms.

\------

The couple joined their friends on the beach.  No one said a word about Lexa’s choice of swimwear.

Eventually Clarke talked Lexa into swimming into the surf with her.  Clarke wrapped her arms and legs around Lexa’s front, kissing her softly.  “You still okay.”

“I am,” Lexa smiled.  “I’m still not sure I want to … be fully nude, but I’m really good with what we did earlier, and I’m interested in trying other things.”

“Really?”  Clarke’s smile was positively lascivious.

“Yeah, I really enjoyed the sounds you made.  I’d like to hear some more.”

Clarke kissed Lexa wantonly.

“For fuck’s sake, nobody needs to see that!”  Raven shouted from the beach.

Clarke and Lexa just held up middle fingers at Raven and continued their kiss.

When they separated Clarke said, “I think we’re going to have to wait until bedtime though or we’ll never get any privacy.”

“I think you’re probably right.”  Lexa carried Clarke up to the beach.

Monty and Jasper set up a volleyball net while Lincoln and Atom built a fire with firewood they found under the deck.  

“Who’s in?”  Jasper asked twirling the volleyball.

“I am,” Lexa pulled off her soaking wet t-shirt and dropped it in the sand exposing her sports bra style bikini top.  

It was all the blonde could do to not moan at the sight of her girlfriend.  “I’m with Lexa,” she said.

Murphy joined Lexa’s team, he hadn’t removed his t-shirt all day, even when he got in the Gulf.  Clarke wondered at the enigma that was John Murphy.

Lincoln and Luna joined Monty, Jasper, and Nathan.  Atom and Harper joined Lexa’s team.

Jasper was terrible at volleyball.  It might have been the copious amount of weed he had smoked after they got to the beach house.  Lincoln kept trying to play both his position and Jasper's.  Team Clexa destroyed Team Minty in three out of five games.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	21. Spring Break 2010: Part Two

The day had wound down.  After they had eaten and put the fire out, Monty distributed his special homegrown hydro, he called it Skaikru because it got you sky high.  Most of the group lit up where they sat on the beach.  Clarke slid the joint behind Lexa’s ear and lead her into the house and up to their room.  No one was suspicious, since Clarke still wouldn’t take a drink or smoke a joint with anyone but the quarterback.

“I didn’t think you would want to smoke this right now,” Lexa said once they were in their room.  

Clarke locked the door and pulled the joint from behind Lexa’s ear and placed it on the bedside table.  “I don’t, I just didn’t want Monty to take it back.”  Clarke pulled Lexa close and kissed her softly.  The kiss gradually increased along with the motion of curious hands seeking places that led to a positive reaction.  Mostly the movements stayed to PG areas, but Clarke enjoyed grazing Lexa’s breasts through her suit top.  One of Lexa’s hands found dried sand on Clarke’s back.

“We probably need to shower first so we don’t get sand in the sheets,” Lexa showed Clarke some grains of sand.

Clarke hummed against Lexa’s ear and tugged her toward the bathroom.  Once inside, she released the brunette and reached to turn on the shower to a moderate temperature.  The moment seemed to give her pause before she stepped into the spray still wearing her swimsuit.

“Clarke, you’ll never get all the sand like that.”

“I know, I didn’t think this through very well,” Clarke admitted sadly.

“What’s wrong, love?”

“The shower was a bad idea, I’m sorry.”

It dawned on Lexa was the blonde meant.  “Oh, love, this isn’t even a little bit the same,” Lexa took a moment.  “I’d be more likely to remember you crying in the shower that night, than remember her.”

Clarke furrowed her brow, “I forgot about that.  You washed me, how did I forget that?”

“You were drugged, I took care of you.”

“Get in here,” Clarke stepped back to make room for Lexa to get under the spray.  Once the brunette was standing steadily, the blonde wrapped her arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.  “I’m afraid I might have ruined the mood.”

“It’s okay, love,” Lexa whispered.  “I can step out and let you get clean then take a shower myself.”

“I want you to stay,” Clarke whispered.  “It’s fine if the moment is gone, but I could use some help getting all of the sand off.”

“Okay, but I’m still not taking my trunks off with you in the room,” Lexa teased.

“Lex,” Clarke looked her in the eye and placed a hand on the brunette’s heart.  “You know that I don’t have any issues with your anatomy.  I love you as you are, whether you decide to keep Alex or invert him into Alexa, I’m going to love you and want to be intimate with you.”

“I’ve been storing sperm every week at the clinic,” Lexa blurted.

“That was really not how I expected you to respond,” Clarke chuckled.  “Turn the water off so we don’t use up all of the hot water while we talk.”

Lexa did as asked.  “I didn’t mean to tell you like that.  I just thought you needed to know before I said something awkward.”  Lexa facepalmed, “Like saying that wasn’t awkward.”

“It’s okay, Lex,” Clarke soothed.  “Talk to me.”

“You saw my fertility results, it’s low.  My ovaries produce hormones but not eggs, so the only way for me to ever have a biological kid is to save as much sperm as I can while I still have any fertility at all.  Dr. Birch says more than likely, I’ll be essentially sterile before I’m thirty.”

“It’s not that big of a concern for me, Lexa.”

“It is for me.  I can’t stop seeing a life with us married with a little blue eyed girl with my mane.  I know it’s a longshot, but if I didn’t do this while I could, I would regret it later.”

“No little blue eyed boys?”  Clarke asked.

“I think it’s pretty unlikely with only four X chromosomes to work with,” Lexa grinned.

“Have you decided to have the surgery?”

“No.  I haven’t decided not to, either,” Lexa shrugged.  “We’ve been having weekly bonding sessions for the last year,” she waved a hand in the direction of her groin.

Clarke smirked and tried not to laugh.

“Go ahead,” Lexa rolled her eyes.

“So, he’s _growing_ on you,” the blonde burst out laughing at her joke.

“Are you proud of that?”  Lexa continued to roll her eyes.

“Kind of,” Clarke pulled her in for a kiss.  “I’m glad you’re less disturbed by Alex and getting more comfortable with your body,” a kiss.  “I’m glad you’re planning so far into the future,” another kiss.  “I accept that you might not ever want to take your underwear off in front of me,” yet another kiss.  “I also hope that someday, you might want to take your underwear off with me,” a deeper kiss.  “But I am always going to _want_ to be intimate with you, whether Alex is involved or not,” Clarke slipped her tongue into Lexa’s waiting mouth.  Lexa moaned into it.  “I’m going to take off this swimsuit so I can wash the sand off, you can stay or you can wait for me in the bedroom.”

Lexa reached around behind the blonde’s back and unhooked her top.  Clarke smiled and kissed her girlfriend again.  Lexa turned to restart the shower and get the water to the right temperature, when she turned back around Clarke was tossing her bikini bottoms into the sink.  She saw Lexa looking at her and wiggled an eyebrow at her with a smirk.

Lexa chuckled, “I love you, so much.”

Clarke moved in and kissed her, “I know, now show me by washing my back.”

Their time in the shower together was not particularly sexy, but it was certainly intimate.  Lexa ensured that Clarke’s hair and body were free of sand, Clarke worked to clear Lexa’s wild mane of the tiny crystals.  They kissed a little, there were soft touches, but no overt sexual activity.  When Clarke was clean and Lexa’s hair free of sand, Clarke stepped out of the bathroom in a towel to find clean pajamas.

Lexa dropped her trunks and washed the sand away.  After she stepped out and wrapped a towel around her torso, she retrieved the trunks from the bottom of the tub and rinsed them and wrung them out before laying them over the edge of the tub.  Then, while she was at it, she rinsed Clarke’s bikini and hung it on the edge of the tub to dry as well.  

Since she didn’t have any clean dry clothes in the bathroom, she double checked that the towel covered Alex and opened the bathroom door where Clarke was waiting with a pair of boxer briefs in hand wearing nothing but a smirk.  Lexa slipped into her underwear under the towel, then pulled Clarke in for a deep kiss.

When the need for air became too much they broke apart, “Is it just naked time?”

“Is it a problem, do you want me to put something on?”

“No.”

Clarke tugged Lexa over to the bed, she laid down and patted the space beside her.  When Lexa was lying on her side facing Clarke, the blonde spoke, “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.  I want you to talk to me and let me know what’s okay and what’s not okay.  We don’t have to do anything at all.”

“Okay,” Lexa averted her eyes and took a moment to find the strength to say, “I don’t want you to try to touch it.  You can touch anywhere else, just not there.”

“Okay, love,” she nodded and reached out to caress Lexa’s bicep.  “How are you going to . . . finish?”

“We’ll figure it out,” Lexa moved in for a kiss that deepened quickly.  It’s hard to have restraint when there is a beautiful naked blonde lying in your bed.  “I need to know where you want me to stop.”

Clarke kissed her, their hands roamed, “I trust you, I’ll let you know if I don’t like something.”

Lexa pushed Clarke onto her back and began to kiss her way down her jaw and neck, hands caressed and touched and felt.  Lexa kissed her way down her girlfriend’s chest, teasing her way around the blonde’s ample breasts.  Clarke’s breathy moans were driving Lexa crazy, she felt Alex hard against the mattress.

“Lexa, you know how I said I’d let you know if I didn’t like something?”

Lexa stopped and pulled away from Clarke.  

Clarke pulled her back down.  “I’m also going to tell you when I like something or want you to do something.”

Lexa nodded.

“I don’t like being teased.”

Lexa smiled and kissed her girlfriend.  “You know that already, do you?”

She felt one of Clarke’s hands on her breast, gently squeezing and thumbing her nipple.  The blonde’s other hand stroked the brunette’s arm.  Lexa released a breathy moan and began to work her way back down her girlfriend’s neck and chest.  She paused and hovered over a breast, she looked up and locked eyes with Clarke.  Painfully slowly, for Clarke anyway, Lexa lowered her mouth to the blonde’s nipple.  Clarke was already aroused, but the moment Lexa’s plump lips parted to suck the blonde’s nipple into her mouth, she was on fire.  An obscene moan slipped out while she tried to maintain eye contact.  Lexa smirked at the sound, she experimented with licks and sucks to see (hear) how Clarke responded to each one.  As it turns out, a gentle rake of her teeth over the sensitive nipple got a fantastic reaction.

Lexa moved on, hands sliding over soft pale skin while her lips and tongue explored Clarke’s ribs and stomach.  Slowly kissing and licking her way down.  Lexa could smell Clarke’s arousal and it made her mouth water.  She wanted to rush to get there, to taste her.  But she felt that Clarke deserved better than to just rush through to get to the end.  Lexa wanted to enjoy the journey, she wanted Clarke to enjoy the journey.  Lexa moved back up to Clarke’s lips, slipping over her body, enjoying the feeling of skin on skin.  Hot flesh pressing together, hands traveling with abandon, Lexa felt Clarke’s hands sliding down her back and under the waistband of her underwear to squeeze her ass.  Clarke’s purpose was twofold, to get her hands on that glorious ass and to pull Lexa where the blonde wanted her most.  She spread her legs and tilted her hips to grind up on Lexa.

“Is this okay?”  Clarke asked, when Lexa didn’t react.

“Um,” Lexa seemed frozen.  

Clarke stopped her roaming hands and lips.  “Lexa?”

Lexa was frozen, she wasn’t upset, she wasn’t having an episode, she wasn’t scared.  Well, she was a little scared.  She felt Clarke’s hot wet arousal through her underwear and it freaked her out a little.  It was all she could do not to rut against her girlfriend like a wild animal.

“I’m okay,” Lexa whispered.  “I can feel you, wet... on... me.”

“Oh.”

“I’m just gonna. . .” Lexa pushed herself up and shifted down a few inches.  Clarke missed the feeling, but she wasn’t going to tell Lexa that.  It would be pressuring her and Clarke never wanted to push Lexa into anything she didn’t want to do.  The feeling of Lexa’s bare abdominal flesh against her was an acceptable substitute.  Clarke bit her lip and tried to resist rubbing herself against Lexa’s skin, she rubbed a little, resisting an impulse was not Clarke’s forte.

“Clarke,” Lexa panted.  Clarke hot and wet against her lower abdominals made Lexa’s brain fuzzy, Alex was so hard it ached.

Clarke leaned forward and connected their lips.  It wasn’t a very comfortable position for Clarke but she wasn’t in it long.  Lexa started kissing down her jaw and neck again, as Clarke dropped back onto the bed Lexa started kissing down her chest.  Clarke left a trail of slick along Lexa’s torso as she worked her way down.  Clarke’s arousal kept Alex throbbing painfully, Lexa ground down into the mattress seeking some relief, any relief.  When Clarke could no longer keep her hands comfortably on Lexa’s back or arms she wound them into chestnut curls, Lexa moaned at the feeling, rocking her hips into the bed.

She closed her eyes and slipped all the way down, breathing in the scent of Clarke.  Her mouth watered, her senses in overdrive the feel of Clarke’s fingers alternately curling in her hair and gently scratching her scalp.  Lexa opened her eyes and took in the sight before her.  Her first focus was beautiful blue eyes ahead her.  Lexa’s first focus was always Clarke’s eyes, they alternately grounded her and made her soar.  Still locked onto her favorite eyes, Lexa took in the larger scene, looking up at Clarke from between her legs.

Lexa smiled as her nerves melted away, “The view is incredible.”

“It’s pretty good from here, too,” Clarke smiled back at Lexa’s hair splayed out across her thighs, at the soft green eyes that looked at her full of love and want.

Lexa looked away from Clarke’s eyes and down to the tight golden curls between the blonde’s legs, glistening with arousal.  Lexa was something of an expert on female anatomy.  When you spend literal years agonizing over whether or not to surgically alter your anatomy, you learn everything, what purpose every flap and fold of skin served.  Scientist Lexa and teenager in love Lexa were finally on the same page.  Lexa shifted for the best position, sliding her arms under the blonde’s thighs, one hand slid up Clarke’s side, the other wrapped around that delightful thigh and rested on the blonde’s lower abdomen.  One of Clarke’s hands left those wild chestnut curls and entwined her fingers with Lexa’s.

Lexa ran an experimental tongue through Clarke’s slit.  Clarke gasped, Lexa loved it, loved everything about it.  She loved the salty flavor, she loved the sounds Clarke made, she loved the feel of the delicate flesh on her tongue.  As Lexa grew more confident, she targeted licks, sucked gently on her girlfriends clitoral hood, and slipped her tongue through her labia.  Clarke moaned and struggled to keep her hips still.  Clarke responded best to gentle tongue flicks to her clit and Lexa’s tongue sliding along her hymen.  Lexa was pretty sure that was a signal that it was okay to slip her tongue inside, but she wanted to be sure.  Clarke was always careful to to check that acts were okay with Lexa, the least the brunette could do was double check with her girlfriend before penetrating her.

“Clarke,” Lexa whispered.

“Do it, Lex, please,” Clarke whined with need.  Lexa resumed her ministrations, flicking her girlfriend’s clit a few times, listening to Clarke’s panting breaths and soft moans. She moved down and slid her tongue into Clarke.  The gasp that burst from the blonde made Alex throb again.  As Lexa slipped her tongue in and out of Clarke, she resumed rocking her hips into the mattress.

“Fuck, Lex,” Clarke panted.

Lexa briefly considered a smart remark and instead pushed her tongue deeper into the blonde, looking for that soft spongy spot that would send her over the edge.  Lexa’s blessedly long tongue found the spot and curled against it.

“Oh... So... _fuck_...,” Clarke struggled with the words.

Lexa pressed the tip of her nose against the blonde’s clit while the tip of her tongue licked at the blonde’s g-spot and watched her girlfriend explode.  Clarke’s hips bucked, her hands clenched, one had a handful of Lexa’s hair, the other nearly crushed the quarterback’s throwing hand, and then she went rigid and she fluttered around the brunette’s tongue coating it in her come.  The deep moan that left Clarke’s throat was the most arousing thing Lexa ever heard in her life.  Without even being aware that it was going to happen, mostly unaware that she had continued to rock her hips into the mattress, Lexa came in her boxer briefs.  She listened to Clarke’s labored breaths, smiled and cleaned up the mess she made.  Gently licking away the dripping fluid.

Clarke pulled at the handful of hair she still had clenched in her fist.  “Here,” she panted.

Lexa crawled up her girlfriend and allowed herself to be pulled in for a deep kiss.

“I taste pretty good,” Clarke panted.  

“You do,” Lexa smiled.  “I could do that every day.”

“Me too,” they kissed again.  “Lex, that was amazing.”

“Did you see stars again?”  

“Whole galaxies.”

“Wow,” Lexa kissed the blonde and rolled off of her to lay on the bed.  

“Yeah.  How about you?”  Clarke rolled after her and snuggled into her side with her blonde head resting on Lexa’s shoulder.

“I saw something pretty amazing myself.  The most incredible girl in the world fell apart on my tongue.”

“Were you always this smooth of a talker?”

“I think your orgasms bring it out of me.”

“I meant, did you... finish?”

“I did,” Lexa kissed the top of Clarke’s head.

“How do you feel?”

“Like I just had sex with the woman I love,” Lexa hummed.

“Huh, that’s how I feel, too.  It’s pretty great, right?”

“Best feeling in the universe.”

They laid together, exchanging soft kisses and gentle touches for some time before drifting off to sleep.

\------

When Clarke woke up the next morning she was alone.  She panicked a little, thinking Lexa had woken up and freaked out.  But she knew that Lexa would never run off and leave her without talking to her.

The doorknob turned and Lexa slipped in carrying a tray bearing the scent of bacon.  “Hey,” she smiled when she saw that Clarke was awake and still naked.  “Did you know that none of these assholes can cook?  I had to fight off three people to get you this bacon and eggs.”

“Really?”  Clarke smiled.  “Fistcuffs or pistols?”

Lexa chuckled, “Sabers.”

“Light or steel?”  Lexa sat the tray down and kissed her girlfriend.

“Steel,” another kiss.  “I couldn’t do the whole no attachment thing to be a Jedi.  I’d be lost without you.”

“I can’t read a map, we’ll be lost together,” Clarke smiled.

“I love you,” Lexa laughed.

“I love you so much that I’ll share my bacon.”

“That’s serious love,” Lexa teased.  “We might as well get married tomorrow.”

“I would love to, but I’m positive my Mom won’t sign the paperwork until at least one of us has a job.”  Clarke chewed her bacon thoughtfully.

“Abby won’t consent without at least two degrees and you know it.  Jake might,” Lexa laid down beside Clarke and picked up a piece of bacon.

“What do you want to do today?”

“The same thing we do everyday, Clarkey, try and take over the world!”

“So, watch cartoons and eat junk food?  Sounds good.”

Lexa nodded and chewed her bacon.

“How are you feeling about yesterday?”  Clarke approached the subject carefully.

“I feel great about it, love.  I have a lot of interest in doing it again.  Soon.”

Clarke smirked.  “Soon, huh?”

“You’re still naked.”

“Can I finish my breakfast first?”

Someone started pounding on the locked door.  “LEXA!!”  A voice cried through the door.  “LEXAAAAAAA!!!!!!!  We’re hungry!!!!”  It was Jasper.

“I will give you a whole ounce if you just please feed us,” Monty bargained through the door.

“Damn,” Clarke whispered.  “Take the ounce, we’ll be set for a month.  We’ll have a Miyazaki marathon again.”

“Will you get dressed and come downstairs?”  She asked Clarke as the boys continued to pound at the door.

“In a few minutes, I smell like a gorgeous, brilliant girl went down on me last night.”

Lexa smirked and kissed her girlfriend.  “Back away from the door, you animals.”  Before she opened it she blew Clarke a kiss.  She opened it just enough to slip out and closed it behind her.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	22. Spring 2010: Part Three

**April 2010**

Spring Break had passed in a blur of sexual experimentation and THC.  She remembered the sex, the sex was memorable.  Anything that took place outside of their little nirvana was lost to the sand and the kush.

Now prom was upon them.  Clarke had really wanted Lexa to pick out another dress, Clarke liked Lexa in dresses.  Lexa liked dresses but she didn’t want to spend the evening in excruciating pain because her girlfriend had the most incredible body in the world and in that form fitting dress the brunette could see every curve that she had mapped with her tongue and every crease that had been explored by curious fingers.  Lexa loved to touch Clarke.  Lexa loved to taste Clarke.  Lexa loved to pleasure Clarke.  Lexa loved the sounds Clarke made while being pleasured.  Lexa loved Clarke’s eyes.  Lexa loved Clarke’s smile.  Lexa loved the way Clarke’s tongue poked out when she concentrated.  Lexa loved the way Clarke’s brow furrowed when she was deep in thought.  Lexa just loved Clarke, okay.

Where was she... thinking about Clarke’s breasts?  No, _shit_!  This is why she had to have a fitted tux instead of a dress.  She had been fitted for a custom suit with tails, a blue silk waist coat, and black silk lapels.  Her waistcoat and bow tie matched Clarke’s eyes.  Clarke had ordered Spider-Man cufflinks for her.  

Anya had convinced her that for just one day, the mane should be completely tamed.  They had spent the morning at the salon where Anya’s stylist spent hours loading Lexa’s hair with so many chemicals that the brunette was seriously concerned that there could be permanent damage.  But now she stood in front of the mirror in her tux, with straight (“Anya, there is nothing _straight_ about me!”), shiny, perfectly coiffed hair and she felt pretty good about it.

“Hey, hot stuff, you ready to go get your date?”  Anya poked her head in the bedroom.  “Abby keeps texting me wanting you to come take pictures.”

Lexa tugged her waistcoat down and nodded.  

She decided to walk across the street, normally she didn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to the Jaha house, but it occurred to her that she hadn’t seen any proof of the existence of Wells in a really long time.  She had seen the elder Jaha, he gave her dirty looks at least three mornings a week.  She would have to remember to mention it to Clarke.

She walked right in the Griffin’s front door, as she always did, and into a circus, which was a little less typical.  The Griffin and Woods parents were in the foyer with Lincoln and Luna taking pictures.

“Just stand behind her with your arms around her waist,” Abby instructed.

“Abby, the 80s are over,” Gus teased.

Lexa looked up the stairs wondering if she could slip up them unseen and spotted a vision in blue.  Blue met green and they smiled.  Lexa started up the stairs as Clarke started down them.  They met in the middle and kissed, completely oblivious to the people trying to get their attention.

“Clarke, Lexa, get down here for pictures,” Abby ordered.  Indra was surreptitiously snapping photos of the girls kissing on the stairs in their formal wear.

“Lexa?”  Gus called.

“Gross,” Linc said.

“I think they’re adorable,” Luna told him.

“They’re like my sisters, believe me, it’s gross.”

“Clarke, get off Lexa and get down here!”  Jake called.

The girls pulled apart.  “Huh?”  They asked in unison suddenly aware of the people at the bottom of the stairs.

****

“Stop mooning over each other so we can get this over with,” Linc complained.  Before Clarke realized her mistake her middle finger was already fully extended at Linc.

“Clarke!”  Abby scolded.

“Sorry, Mom,” she shifted into a proper pose with her girlfriend.

****

Monty got the DJ gig for the prom, Clarke had made arrangements for him to play “She’s a Rainbow.”  Clarke didn’t know that Lexa had asked him to play Ben Folds “The Luckiest” until he did so and Lexa sang it to her while they danced.

****

The after prom party was at Jaspers, his parents were in Canada that week.  Nobody knew what Jasper’s parents did, nobody wanted to know.  Clarke and Lexa locked themselves in a guest room and Lexa worshiped Clarke for hours.  Clarke worshiped as much of Lexa as the brunette would allow.  

\------

**April 20, 2010**

Clarke and Lexa are curled up on the sofa in the Woods house, finished homework piled on the coffee table, watching television.  It’s getting late when they hear Indra’s phone ring in the dining room where she had spread out working on some paperwork.

“Captain Woods, go ahead,” Indra’s voice carried through the house.

The girls continued their cuddle.

“Repeat that please, sir?”  The odd note in Indra’s voice caught their attention.

“Shit!  Sorry, Sir.  I’m on the way.”  The girls were looking at each other curiously when Indra dashed up the stairs.  Then they heard Gus’ coming in from the garage and heading up the stairs, his work phone to his ear.

“That can’t be good,” Lexa said.

They waited for Indra to come back down in her Class B’s.  “Mom, what’s going on?”

“A mess,” Indra sighed.  “An oil rig blew up down south of us, the Coasties are en route for rescue.  I’ve got to go to work, it’ll be a who sues who and who charges who nightmare in a couple of hours.  Gus is on the phone with the Corps,” she located her keys.  “Don’t stay up too late.”

Clarke flipped the television over to CNN, they hadn’t picked up the story, yet.  Gus came back down the stairs in BDUs.  

“Dad?”

“I gotta go to the office.  I’ll text you when I know something,” Gus kissed each girl on the top of her head as he passed.  “Don’t stay up too late watching the news.”

After the door closed behind him the girls returned focus to cuddles and the television.  After thirty minutes CNN still hadn’t picked up the story.  

“Let’s go to bed,” Clarke smirked.

Lexa rolled her eyes.

“There’s a natural disaster, Clarke!”

“All the more reason, we could all die tomorrow,” Clarke reasoned.

“We’re upper middle class, love, we get evacuated.”

“Social Justice Lexa is sexy,” Clarke teased.

“You think all my sides are sexy.”

“Guilty as charged, your honor.  Now sentence me to a tongue lashing.”

Lexa chuckled, “Let’s go to bed.”

****

Lexa was knuckle deep and sucking on Clarke’s clit when a text came in from Gus.  She almost didn’t hear it over Clarke’s breathy moans and praise.

When they were finished and Clarke was properly cleaned up, Lexa checked the text.

 **Poppa Bear:**  Won’t be home tonight.  No leaks so far.  Indra won’t be home either.  Love you.

 **Lexa:**  Ok, Dad.  Stay safe.

\------

Lexa hadn’t actually seen either of her parents since the Deepwater Horizon exploded.  Now it was sinking and leaking.  She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to see them any time soon.  They called and checked in.  Lexa had to tell her Dad that her packet from Tulane came with enough in scholarships that he wouldn’t have to write any checks for her either, over the phone.

She didn’t really mind, they were only gone like this when something really bad happened.  Gus was often sent to help control flooding and repair damaged dams and levees.  Indra was rarely gone overnight more than one night.  As far as she knew they were both currently based down in Venice.

Linc and Lexa stayed with the Griffins, mostly for meal times.  They were both old enough to stay home alone, but Linc ate like a football team all by himself and Lexa specialized in breakfast and cupcakes. She could make anything that came in a box because she could read and follow directions like a champ.  But Indra didn’t keep much pre-packaged food in the house because she didn’t want them eating empty calories and chemicals.

“Five hundred and eighty square miles of oil,” Abby shook her head.

“So the beach is out this summer,” Linc joked.

“It’s not funny, Lincoln.  It’s killing ecosystems!  The repercussions on the Gulf fishing industry and economy will last for years!”  Lexa exclaimed.

“I know, Lex.  It’s awful, but if you can’t find the humor you’ll just go crazy,” Linc told her.

\------

**May 2010**

It’s Raven’s graduation night.  There are other seniors graduating, but the Delinquents only give a damn about their resident senior.  The party is at the Jordan house because the Jordan’s have a pool.  Raven has had a big hand in planning her own graduation party, there is a crazy amount of alcohol, the music is lit and there are pool noodles everywhere.  The Jordan adults are absent again, Jasper thinks they might be in Europe somewhere.

The entire Junior and Senior classes had been invited to the party.  The senior classes of at least two private schools got invites as well.  It was a good thing Jasper’s house was huge because there were easily a hundred and fifty people packed inside the house and in the back yard.  Monty was making a killing selling individual joints of his home grown hydro for $10.00 each.  How his oblivious parents were unaware of what was growing up in their attic, they would never understand.  He had once added a second arm to his growing operation in Jasper’s attic, but Jasper indulged too often.

“LA Tech, BABY!”  Raven was shouting to a group of admiring Juniors.  “I’m going into nanosystems engineering.  I’m going to build tiny little robots that will do surgery INSIDE of you!”  She might have been a little drunk.  Clark knew Tech was Raven’s third choice, but neither MIT nor CalTech offered her a full ride and Raven’s family didn’t have the money to pay the difference and Raven was smart enough to know that starting out a hundred thousand dollars in debt was a bad idea.  It’s not like Tech didn’t have one of the best nanotech programs in the country, Raven was mildly disappointed, not suffering from crushed dreams.

“To the class of 2011, may you be as awesome as we were in 2010!”  Raven was shouting in the kitchen, the group of juniors rising to seniors cheered her.

Lexa was looking for Murphy, she had seen him and owed him a joint, it was currently tucked behind her left ear, her joint was tucked behind her right ear.  Well, her second joint.  The first one had been shared with Linc and Luna a little while ago and she was feeling fantastic, Skaikru was really good shit.  A completely chemical free Clarke was sitting on a sofa with Linc and Luna who were giggling at everything.  Clarke didn’t mind, she loved telling Lincoln all of the ‘super deep’ things he had talked about while high.  He was currently explaining a theory, in great nonsensical detail, that the whole world was secretly controlled by a cabal of white mice.  Clarke was pretty sure he was just misremembering _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_.

Lexa meanwhile had followed Murphy’s trail to a study, opening the door, Lexa went blind.  “No fucking way!”  Lexa knew Murphy was bisexual.  Lexa knew Murphy liked to fuck.  So Murphy with his pants around his ankles and his dick buried in some guy's anus wasn’t the surprising part.  The surprising part was the homophobic asswipe that Murphy’s dick was pounding into, Wells Jaha.  Wells was on his back on Jasper’s dad’s desk with his ankles around behind Murphy’s neck.  

“Fuck Murph, I thought you had taste!”  Lexa said way too loudly, but she was pretty damn high so, fuck it.

“Woods, do you mind, I’m kind of busy here?”  Murphy shouted back, still thrusting.

“We’re talking about this later!”  Lexa closed the door and wished she had a crayon or a lipstick to draw a red X on the door.  

The brunette made her way back to Clarke, Linc, and Luna.  “You are never going to believe what I just saw!  I need brain bleach!”

“What did you see, love?”  Clarke asked pulling Lexa down into her lap.

“I just saw Murphy fucking Wells Jaha!”  Lexa was loud but the party was louder so only Clarke and Linc actually heard her.

“Are you serious?”  Clarke’s eyes were huge.

Lexa nodded and pulled the left joint from behind her ear.  “That was so bad I’m smoking that fucker’s joint.  I’ve got anxiety now!”

“You’re so dramatic when you’re high,” Clarke laughed.

“I saw it, Clarke.  I didn’t hear it, I didn’t hear a rumor about it.  I actually saw Murphy with his dick in our homophobic, dick-headed neighbor,” Lexa pulled out her Zippo.

Lincoln started to giggle.

“Just pounding away, Clarke.  He didn’t even stop when he told me to get out,” Lexa shook her head and wondered why she couldn’t get the joint lit, the flame was right there!

“Love, I think you should save this one for later, you can’t even get it in the fire,” Clarke plucked the joint from between her lips and slipped it into her bra.

“Ah, sweet, boob kush later!”  Lexa was sufficiently distracted from her trauma and began kissing Clarke’s neck.

“Love,” Clarke said softly after several minutes of Lexa’s gentle kisses.

“Hmmm,” Lexa hummed into her neck.

“Someone is here to see you,” Clarke shrugged her shoulder to dislodge the blissed out brunette.

“What?  Can’t you see I’m occupied?”  Lexa looked around to see Murphy standing there.

“Oh my God, you sick fucker!”  She jumped off Clarke’s lap, luckily she was still pretty agile even when stoned.  “You know what a fucking douche canoe that guy is!”

“I think we should find somewhere quieter to talk,” Murphy told her.  “Bring your blonde bodyguard so you don’t hurt me.”

Clarke followed Murphy and Lexa out to the front porch where Wells was sitting on the swing.

“Uh uh, he’s got to go,” Lexa said when she saw him,

“Just let him talk for a second, Lex,” Murphy begged.

“Okay, fine, what?!  You spent most of my girlfriends life telling her she’s wrong, calling her an abomination, treating her like shit.  You’ve never said a polite word to me, what’s so fucking important that I have to listen to you now?”

“I’m sorry,” Wells said softly.  He had tears running down his cheeks.

“Apology not accepted,” Lexa stood firm.

“Clarke,” Wells pleaded.  “I’m sorry.  I always knew I was gay, I just internalized the things my father said to me and when you got to be yourself and happy…  I just hated you so much.  I started seeing John last fall and when I came out to my dad, he threw me out.  Told me he didn’t have a son and he wouldn’t have a faggot.”  Wells cried harder.

“I don’t forgive you either, Wells.  Get help, man.”  Clarke rounded on Murphy, “I can’t believe you.”  She pulled at Lexa’s arm, “C’mon, love, I want to go home.”

“You were my best friend, Clarke,” Wells called.

“You were the only person who told me I wasn’t allowed to love Lexa, just _you_ .  You couldn’t possibly have _ever_ been my friend.”  Lexa had to tug Clarke off the porch.

“We’ll talk about this later, Murph,” Lexa called while steering Clarke to her car.

****

Once the pair were ensconced in Clarke’s bedroom, mostly naked (they didn’t dare sleep fully nude if there were parents in the house), and cuddled up, Lexa spoke.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she murmured into Lexa’s neck.  “I think you’re angrier than I am.”

“I can be pissed for both of us,” Lexa agreed.  “I’ll tell Murphy to not bring him around.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Clarke started letting a hand roam freely over her girlfriends torso.  “He’s got to be lonely.  He drove away everyone that didn’t agree with him and then his douchey dad kicked him out.”

“Do you want to forgive him?”

“Of course not,” Clarke explained.  “I just don’t want to do to him what he wanted to do to me.  He deserves to have a chance make friends and love who he wants to love.”

“That’s very mature of you, love.”

“It’ll pass,” Clarke kissed her shoulder.

****

**June 2010**

Lexa has flung herself into a chair in Niylah’s office.  “I have a problem.”

“I figured or you wouldn’t be here,” Niylah deadpanned.

“Clarke and I have been … doing things … um … of a _sexual_ nature.”

“Okay,” Niylah acknowledged.

“Since March.”

“Mmmm hmmm,” Niylah was nothing if not patient.

“I still haven’t been able to let her touch me... there.”

“Ah,” Niylah said.  “Why do you think that is?”

“I’m not sure,” Lexa admitted.  “I don’t know if it’s the penis thing or the Costia thing.”

“Well, when you think about it, what stops you?”

“Fear.  If it was that simple, I would have already sorted it out and used it.”

“Are you afraid Clarke will be put off by your anatomy?”

“No, not really.  No more than standard teenage anxiety,” Lexa knew this to be true.

“Then the problem is not related to your anatomy unless you’re afraid it won’t work.”

“Oh, it works.”

“I know this is really personal, but how are you managing to keep your penis out of the sexual activity?”

“I keep my underwear on,” Lexa admitted.  “Sometimes, we grind and she’ll be fully nude and I’m in my underwear and I can feel her and part of me really, really wants to just take off my boxer briefs and … you know.”

“If you can’t say it, you shouldn’t be doing it.”

“Well, I’ve penetrated her with my tongue and fingers many times.  So saying penetrate her is kind of unclear in my estimation.  I don’t want to say ‘fuck her’ because it’s rude and, again, I’ve done so using my fingers.  So the only phrase I’ve got left is “stick my dick in her” and that’s both crude and demeaning to both of us.  So I went with “you know’ because I love her and don’t even want to say anything to you that might be demeaning to her.

“Lexa, how long have you and Clarke been a couple?”

“Confirmed and calling ourselves that?  Right at a year.”

“How long has Clarke known about your penis?”

“You know this, since the day we met.  She named it Alex that summer.”

“So,” Niylah cleared her throat to get Lexa’s undivided attention.  “Clarke has known about your penis since you were both young girls and sex wasn’t even a consideration.”

“Right.”

“So, it’s pretty obvious that Clarke can’t be fetishizing your penis.”

“Yes,” Lexa had to agree.

“How many times have you been in a position that she could have reached out and stroked it if she felt like it?”

“Sexually or in general?”

“For right now, we’ll go with sexually.”

Lexa did some quick math.  “Thirty-three times.”

“So thirty-three times, Clarke has had immediate access to your penis and hasn’t even tried to touch it?”

“Yes?”

“Does Clarke show concern for your physical satisfaction?”

“She asks me if I finished every time and I know it bothers her that she can’t help me come,” Lexa said unsure.  “Is that what you mean?”

“Yes,” Niylah nodded.  “Come on, Lexa, you’re a smart girl, pull it all together.”

“Clarke isn’t going to do anything I don’t want to do.”

“You already knew that.”

“I did.”

“So try again,” Niylah encouraged.

“Clarke isn’t going to hurt me, I’m safe with her.”

“Very good.”

“So what do I do?”

“You could try taking off your underwear the next time you’re being intimate.”  Niylah continued, “You don’t have to use it right away, but maybe take some time to get use to having it exposed to the girl that loves and respects you.”

Lexa stared at her hands.

“Again, I don’t encourage underage sex, but buy some condoms.”

“Wouldn’t need them,” Lexa told her.  “I’m clean and have a very low sperm count and she’s never been with anyone else and on the pill for her cramps.”

“Tell me you’re going to buy condoms so I can absolve myself of anything you get up to.”

“I’ll buy condoms,” Lexa sighed exasperated.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	23. Summer 2010:  Part One

**June 2010 cont.**

Lexa had seen Niylah last week.  She had a lot to think about and she was thinking it through as thoroughly as she could.  It was hard to think in the heat and humidity of a summer in New Orleans.  She was lying buck naked on her bed above the blankets under two fans.  She had decided that the underwear was coming off.  She had discovered  _ Arrested Development _ and didn’t like the similarities.  She could get over her shit if it meant not being able to compare herself Tobias Funke.  Lexa thought maybe she didn’t take the healthiest paths, but they got her where she needed to be.  So here she was, being naked under two fans and working up to naked with her girlfriend when her phone chimed.  Lexa had it next to her head so she didn’t have to move much to get it.

****

**Clarke <3:**  The Mom’s and Dad’s are calling a family meeting.

**Lexa :heart_eyes: :**  Too hot to move.  Any idea why?

**Clarke <3:**  Nope.  Are you, by chance, in a state of undress?

**Lexa :heart_eyes: :**  Too hot for clothes.

**Clarke <3:**  I’m being told you don’t have a choice.  Put on pants, love.

**Lexa :heart_eyes: :** No pants!

****

Lexa slipped into her lightest running shorts with a built in jock and pulled on a sports bra.  Her hair was already up in a loose bun to keep it from sticking to her sweaty shoulders.  She checked the thermostat on the way down the hall, 72 degrees.   _ Bullshit _ .  She slipped on a pair of flip flops and steeled herself to open the front door.  “Holy fuck, I feel like a crawfish in a boil,” as the heat and humidity assaulted her.

Thelonius Jaha was pruning his boxwoods, he shot Lexa a nasty look.  “It’s too damn hot for your shit,” Lexa looked pointedly at him.

“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature,” Jaha was saying.

“You know, I saw your douchey son taking a big ol’ dick up the ass a couple of weeks ago.  He seemed to be really enjoying it,” Lexa flipped him off as she crossed the street.

****

Jake was waiting for her in the foyer, “Are you picking fights with Thelonious again?”

“I don’t start them, I just finish them,” Lexa replied.  “It’s too hot for this, Jake.”

“I know, Muppet, but you’ll like this.”  Lexa followed him into the den.

Indra, Gus, Lincoln, Abby, and Clarke were waiting for them.  “You guys have got to call a repair guy, the thermostat is broken or something.”

“It’s not broken, Lexa,” Indra said.

“Then why is it not two thousand degrees over here?”

“Jake keeps the thermostat at 64 in the summer,” Abby said.

“I love you, Jake,” Lexa hugged him.  “Can I live with you?”

“Of course you can, Muppet.  Now take a seat.”

Lexa joined Clarke and Lincoln on the sofa.  Lexa held out a hand and Clarke began to fidget with her fingers.

“Anya got the opportunity to go to a cardiovascular conference in Orlando this summer,” Abby started.  The teens were staring at her blankly wondering what it had to do with them.

“Since there won’t be any Gulf beach trips this year, or next year for that matter,” Jake got to the point.  “We decided we would send you three off to Orlando with Anya for ten days.”

“Disney World?”  Clarke said hopefully.

“Yes,” Gus nodded.

“Can I opt out,” Lincoln asked.

“You can, but your girlfriend would be very disappointed since she’s going,” Indra told him.

“What?”  Lincoln was stunned.

“Luna’s been involved with the planning since February,” Gus told him.  “We’ve booked you five into a two bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs Resort.  It’s a reward for all of those scholarships and nobody having to write fat checks to colleges.”

“When do we leave?”  Lexa asked.

“Your flight leaves at six am,” Indra handed over an envelope with tickets and boarding passes.

\------

Jake and Gus drove the five of them to the airport.  Anya was surly, like that was anything new, Lexa and Clarke were barely awake but excited to be going back to the beginning.  Jake pulled up to the drop off area and hopped out to help unload the luggage.  Gus was doling out hugs.  

“Luna might have let some other friends of yours in on the trip,” Jake admitted.

“What?’  Lexa looked around to see Monty, Nate, Raven, Jasper, Harper, and Zoe

“What the hell?”  Clarke groaned.

“This isn’t even all of us, there are more coming later,” Jasper grinned.

Clarke fumed.

“I’ve got a lot of questions that I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know the answers to,” Lexa said.  

Jake hugged the girls and climbed back into the car with Gus to get away before Clarke worked up a good rant.

“You really don’t,” Monty confided.  Monty was becoming quite the source for excellent hydro in south Louisiana.  He had rented a warehouse in the city to expand his growing operation.  He was so excited to expand up to north Louisiana via Raven that he paid for her trip to Orlando, he called it an employee benefits package.  Lexa knew Murphy was working for Monty, it was the only way he could stay away from his foster home.  If he gave his foster mom money, she didn’t care where he was or what he was doing. The further Murphy could stay away from her the better.  Lexa suspected that Wells was peddling Skaikru to the private school and church crowd now, too.

Jasper’s parents paid for a three bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs so they had room for twelve.  Absent parent guilt was pretty lucrative.

Once the plane was in the air and the seatbelt light went off, Anya leaned forward and told Lexa her biggest secret for the trip.  “I’ve got my own room, it’s at the same resort so I can tell Dad and Indra that I’ve seen you, but I’d rather not share a room with Clarke’s moans and Luna’s squeals.”

“Ahn!”  Lexa hushed her.

“Don’t act like either of y’all are quiet,” Anya griped.  “You fuck anytime the parents are out and you never seem to consider that Linc or I might be in the house.”

“Holy shit,” Clarke was laughing.

“Jesus, Anya, you’ve got a job, move out!”  Lexa was a deep red.

“What is going on back here?” Lincoln popped up.

“Anya’s been listening in on us having sex,” Clarke giggled.  “You and Luna, too.”

“Oh my God!”  Lincoln went even redder than Lexa.  Clarke cackled.  Another laugh joined Clarke’s and Lexa looked back to see Raven holding her side beside Anya.

****

From the Orlando airport they piled into the shuttle.  Clarke had an angry.  She had spent the night before imagining just hanging out with Lexa since Linc and Luna would want to do their own thing and she ended up stuck with most of the Delinquents.  Monty said more were coming later, she looked around the shuttle.   _ Fuck _ , the only two people missing were Murphy and Atom.  If Murphy was coming, he would bring Wells.   _ Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck!   _ This was going to be the worst trip ever.  “No, fuck that!”  Clarke said out loud on the shuttle.  The Delinquents and an unsuspecting family all looked at her.  “Monty, I swear to God, if Wells shows up to ruin my Disney vacation with my girlfriend, I will end you!”

Monty shrank down in his seat, “I need to make a call.”

****

Lexa, Clarke, Linc, and Luna got checked into their room and carried in their bags.  Clarke made it in the room first and claimed the room with the king bed while Lexa and Linc shoved each other in the doorway.

“HA!”  Lexa taunted pushing her way past him into the villa.

“Don’t worry about it, baby,” Luna said.  “We’ve got two beds to alternate between.”  

Lexa joined Clarke in their room.  Clarke was jumping on the bed.   “You gotta stop, love,” she smiled.  “If anyone is going to fall and break a limb jumping on a bed, it’s you.”

Clarke dropped like a stone and bounced to a stop.  “Do we have time for a little lovin’?”

Lexa climb up on the bed and straddled her girlfriend, bending down to kiss her lovingly.  “No.”

“Lex!”

“I want to take my time,” Lexa kissed her softly again.  Clarke loved the way Lexa’s pillowy lips felt on hers.  

“I’ve got time,” Clarke slid her hands under the brunette’s shirt.  “Ten days worth of time.”

“Tonight,” Lexa whispered.  “I promise.  Now let’s go ride Maelstrom and get some school bread.”

Clarke looked up at the incredible creature above her and smiled the biggest, goofiest, love struck, smile anyone has ever smiled.  “I love you, Lexa.”

Lexa returned the goofy lovestruck smile, “I love you too, Clarke.”

****

“How are we going to avoid the rest of the Delinquents?”  Clarke asked as Lexa lead her around the resort in stealth mode.

“Shh, stay quiet and stay with me.”  Lexa had gotten online and checked the resort map, she knew that everyone else was in a building on the same bus route as theirs, but saw that they could cut across the resort to another bus stop on a different route.  They only waited a couple of minutes for a bus to the transportation plaza where they hopped on the Epcot monorail.  

They squealed when the monorail circled around Spaceship Earth.  A family with young kids looked at them.  “What?  The food is awesome here,” Clarke informed them.  “Pro-tip, get a chocolate croissant at the France Pavilion, trust me.”

They rushed off the monorail and through bag check.  Jake had put them on the dining plan so Clarke could eat her way across Epcot every day if she wanted to.  She wanted to, but she also wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion every day.  Clarke was going to have to work on her time management.  Lexa wanted to do whatever Clarke wanted to do and send Jake selfies from the Muppets section of the renamed Disney Hollywood Studios.  As long as there were still Muppets, Lexa was good.

After snacking their way across the World Showcase and riding Maelstrom, twice because Lexa didn’t think they got enough kisses the first time through, and riding Grand Fiesta Tour (“I think I liked it better before,” Clarke griped.  Lexa agreed.), Clarke wanted to ride Ellen’s Energy Adventure for the air conditioning and the dinosaurs.  They sat in the back and made out, a lot.

****

It wasn’t very late, but they had ten days to close down parks.  They caught a bus back to the resort.  They got to their villa and found it free of roommates.  Lexa decided to take proactive measures.  She walked into the living room and turned on the television as a sound buffer for when Linc and Luna came back to the room.  She walked back to Clarke who was giving her a curious look, took her hand, and led her into their room.

The kisses started soft and slow but grew in need.  Clarke pulled Lexa’s shirt over her head and ran her hands over the newly exposed skin while kissing Lexa’s diamond cut jaw.  Lexa pulled Clarke’s shirt over the blonde’s head and bent her neck to kiss down her neck and chest into her ample cleavage.  Lexa reached around and unhooked the blonde’s bra while Clarke reached behind the brunette to do the same.

Breasts exposed they returned to each others lips, enjoying of feeling of so much naked flesh pressing together.  Lexa ran her hands down Clarke’s sides and to the button and zipper of her jeans.  Clarke ran her hands over the skin of Lexa’s bare back.  When Lexa unfastened Clarke’s jeans she pulled away and kissed down the blonde’s body as she pushed her jeans down and knelt kissing her girlfriend’s stomach.  She helped Clarke step out of her jeans while continuing to kiss and lick her lower abdominal area.  Clarke thumbed at the waistband of her panties, Lexa got the message and peeled them slowly down.  She slipped both hands to Clarke’s ass and slipped her tongue into the blonde’s slit.  Clarke moaned her pleasure as Lexa gently licked her clit.

“That feels so good, Lex,” Clarke ran her fingers through Lexa’s thick curls.  “Why don’t we move this to the bed?”

Lexa kissed her way back up the blonde, stopping to pay special attention to Clarke’s nipples.  She caught Clarke’s hands as they slipped down her arms and moved them to the button of her skinny jeans.  Clarke didn’t hesitate to work open the button and unzip them.  She slipped her hands between the boxer briefs and jeans on either of Lexa’s hips and carefully worked the brunette’s jeans off without disturbing her underwear.  Kneeling on the way down kissing and licking Lexa’s chest, breasts, and abs as she traveled south.  Once Lexa was free of her jeans, she held out her hands for Clarke to take.  Instead of helping her up as Clarke expected, she placed the blonde’s hands on the waistband of her boxer briefs and folded Clarke’s thumbs under the band.  Clarke looked up at her with love, awe, and a question.

Lexa nodded and pushed Clarke’s hands down, starting the removal of her underwear in Clarke’s presence for the first time.  Clarke’s eyes never left Lexa’s as she pulled the boxer briefs all the way down to the brunette’s ankles and pulled them away as Lexa stepped out of them.  Clarke was so in awe of the moment, that she just stared up at Lexa who had a solitary tear rolling down her cheek.  She didn’t realize that she was crying too until Lexa reached down and wiped a tear off of her own cheek.  Clarke caught Lexa’s hand before it could pull away and held it to her cheek as she stared up at the girl she loved.

“Are you sure?”  

“I’m sure, love,” Lexa murmured.  “You can look.”

Instead of looking, Clarke surged to her feet and kissed Lexa with all of the love and trust in her soul.  Bodies pressed together, Clarke could feel all of Lexa for the first time, she didn’t have the words to describe how loved she felt in that moment.

Clarke steered Lexa backwards to the bed.  When the quarterback’s legs hit the bed she sat down suddenly.  Clarke caught her around the shoulders as if she was falling and Lexa understood that Clarke was always going to catch her.  Lexa put a hand on either side of Clarke’s face and pulled her back in for a deep kiss. There were tears as they maintained the kiss and scooted up onto the bed.  Clarke pushed Lexa down onto the bed and laid down curled into her side with her head on her shoulder. 

“Are you going to look?”  Lexa finally asked.

“I’d rather get a good look at that sweet ass,” Clarke teased.

Lexa chuckled.

“There’s my girl,” Clarke smiled and kissed Lexa’s shoulder.  “I just want to give us a minute for it to not be so heavy.”

“Is that a joke about the size of my dick?”  Lexa tried to sound serious but laughed.

Clarke laughed too, “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”

“I do, Clarke.  I really do, because I love you just as much.”

They cuddled in silence for awhile.

Clarke’s stomach growled.  “We should have brought food.”

Lexa laughed, not a chuckle, not a giggle, a full belly laugh.  “Clarke, you ate, like, twelve things across the World Showcase.”

“I shared like twelve things with my beautiful girlfriend,” Clarke defended.  “Didn’t I see we could order pizza?”  Clarke climbed off the bed and wandered around looking for the flyer she had earlier with pizza on it.

Lexa just stayed where she was on the bed and watched naked Clarke look for a flyer and her phone.  She found it under a carry on bag.  “Aha!”  Clarke held it up triumphantly and turned to show it to Lexa, who was lying on the bed in all her glory, just smiling at her, completely unconcerned about her nudity.  Clarke got her first look at Alex, flaccid against Lexa’s pelvis.

Clarke was completely unaware of the goofy love struck smile on her face. “You’re perfect,” she breathed.

Lexa blushed.  “I’m anything but perfect.”

Clarke climbed back on the bed with the pizza menu and her phone and sat next to Lexa with her legs folded under her.  She took one of Lexa’s hands.  “To me, you are perfect.  Now, what do you want on your pizza?”

\------

Morning arrived with little fanfare.  The night before, Clarke had thrown on clothes long enough to collect the pizza and after a discussion about how sanitary it is to eat pizza naked (“Lex, you routinely stick your tongue inside of my genitals.  You don’t really get to have concerns about one of our pubes in the pizza.”), Clarke stripped them back off.  They cuddled up and watched television.  There was no sex, there were no sexual touches, just two girls in love bare to each other.  

They had fallen asleep watching old Disney shorts and they woke up to old Disney shorts.  Clarke was tucked into Lexa’s side with her head on the brunette’s shoulder, one of their regular sleeping positions.  Sometime in the night one of them had pulled the duvet up around them.  Clarke tilted her head up while Lexa turned hers and their lips met in a sweet kiss.

“Good morning, Clarke.”

Clarke hummed.  “Good morning, Lexa.”

“I need to pee.”

“I can see that,” Clarke had made note of the tent pole under the duvet.  Lexa flipped the blanket away before Clarke could look away.  Alex was upright seeking immediate attention.  It was neither impressively large, nor embarrassingly small.  Clarke didn’t really have much of a basis for comparison aside from the years of research on Lexa’s condition.  She had half expected to find a misshapen but functional small penis.  That was the most common appearance of those with Lexa’s condition.  Alex looked pretty normal, not particularly long, not very thick.  Honestly, Clarke was pretty relieved at the size of it erect, she knew where it was supposed to go and it didn’t look like it would hurt much the first time.

“So that’s the inconsiderate bastard that poked me in the ass all those mornings,” Clarke joked.

“Inconsiderate bastard is fairly accurate.”

“I still think you’re perfect, Lexa.”  Clarke looked back up at her girlfriend’s face.

“I’m glad you think so, Clarke.  I think you’re perfect, too.”

Lexa slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom.  When she returned a few moments later, Alex was flaccid again.

“Lex?”

“Hmmm,” Lexa fished around for clothes for the day.

“Should I be offended that we’ve been naked together for twelve hours now and you only got hard when you had to pee?”

“Would it help if I told you it was fully hard when you pulled off my underwear last night?”

“A little,” Clarke admitted.  “I don’t want to pressure you at all.  I know last night was a really huge step for you, but I feel like I should tell you that I haven’t lost interest in intercourse.”

Lexa chuckled, “That’s an awfully formal way of asking to jump my bones, Clarke.”

“No pressure, Lexa.  I mean it,” Clarke was using her serious voice.  “I just didn’t want you to wonder if nothing happened last night because I didn’t like it.  Nothing happened last night because neither of us was really ready for anything to happen.”

“You don’t think it’s gross?”

“I don’t think it’s gross.  I told you I think you’re perfect and I meant it.  I’d like to cuddle naked again tonight.  Decisions about sexual contact to be made at that time.”

“Ok,” Lexa agreed.  “Come take a shower with me?”

Clarke rolled out of the bed and followed Lexa into the shower.  There was a little bit of soft kissing, but again, no overt acts.  Clarke took great joy in washing Lexa’s chestnut mane.

****  
  
  
  
  
  



	24. Summer 2010: Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has stayed around, I appreciate it. Kudos and positive comments are writer food.  
> A negative comment can put me off writing for days. That might be a little bit emotional blackmail, but still true. If it's true for me, I'm sure it's true for hundreds of others.
> 
> We've still got a little ways to go, about ten years by my timeline, some of those will fly by with very little actual content, I don't feel the need to cover the mundane or things you've already seen in the story.
> 
> This one is a little smutty, but Lexa's making progress so it's kind of a big deal.

They started the morning at Hollywood Studios.  Taking lots of selfies in the Muppets Courtyard to send to Jake.  They rode Star Tours twice, Tower of Terror three times, and Rockin’ Roller Coaster only once, the line was crazy long.  They took a Friendship boat over to Epcot for dinner (Thanking Jake for adding the Park Hopper option with selfies from the boat and pics of their dinners.), then back to Hollywood Studios for Fantasmic!, where they took more selfies to send to their parents.

Upon returning to the room, they found Lincoln and Luna cuddled up on the sofa in the common area.  “Hey,” Linc greeted.  “What did you two do today?”

“Muppets and Star Tours,” Lexa answered.  “Y’all?”

“Animal Kingdom,” Luna told them.  “Expedition Everest is so fun!”

“How long are you two going to duck everyone?”  Linc asked.

“I was thinking until football practice starts up,” Clarke said.  “Lex?”

“I’ll just have to see Atom then, not the rest of them.”

“I shouldn’t even give you this, then,” Linc pulled out a baggie with several rolled joints.  “Monty sent these as an apology.”

“And why is Monty apologizing?”  Clarke took the baggie.

“Wells and Murphy are on property.  They drove down with the Skaikru.”

“The fuck!”  Clarke exclaimed.

“I’m with you,” Linc said.  “He treated everyone like shit for years, especially you two, and suddenly decides to be friends because he’s getting fucked hard.”

“Makes me friendlier,” Luna shrugged.

“I didn’t need to hear that,” Lexa sighed.

“Everyone wants to have breakfast together in the morning,” Linc told them.

“Hard pass.  Tell Monty thanks for the giggles, though,” Clarke waved the bag and headed for the room she shared with Lexa.

“Why did you invite them?”  Lexa directed her question to Luna after Clarke closed the door.

“I didn’t, really,” Luna told her.  “I let it slip to Jasper over spring break.  I didn’t realize he would invite himself and everyone else along.  I didn’t find out he had until we saw them at the airport.”

Lexa shook her head at her cousin and his girlfriend and followed her girlfriend into the bedroom.

Clarke was already half naked en route to the shower when Lexa entered.  “There’s my beautiful girl.  Join me in the shower?”  Clarke wasn’t necessarily looking for sex, she just wanted to wash the Florida sweat off.  Instinctively, Lexa understood this.  She stripped off her clothes from the day and only hesitated for a moment when she dropped her underwear.  Clarke was already in the bathroom with the shower running.  Lexa joined her under the spray and kissed Clarke softly.  But as was common with them, the soft kiss grew into a deep wanting kiss, Clarke felt Lexa hardening between them as their kisses grew more desperate.  Hands sliding across wet skin, touching, squeezing, teasing.  Curious tongues tasted necks, collarbones, chests, breasts.  Panting breaths and soft moans competed with the water spray for auditory dominance.  Clarke slipped a hand onto Lexa’s squeezable ass and pulled her close to grind against her.  Lexa’s head fell back and she released a high moan, she could feel Clarke’s pubic bone and hairs against her sensitive member.  

Lexa reached back and turned off the water.

“What are you doing, Lex?”  Clarke moaned as one of Lexa’s fingers slipped between her folds and rubbed her clit.

“Making you feel good,” Lexa purred.

“The shower …”  Clarke lost her train of thought when Lexa took a nipple into her mouth while she rubbed gentle circles on the blonde’s clit.

“Water is a solvent, Clarke.  It’ll will wash away your natural lubricant and make it less pleasurable when I touch you.”  Lexa resumed sucking a nipple.

Clarke hummed.  “Considerate Scientist Lexa is sexy.”

“I think  _ you’re _ sexy.”

“I can tell.  Take me to bed.”  They stepped out of the shower and Lexa picked the blonde up by the waist.  Clarke wrapped her legs around Lexa, unintentionally pressing her wetness against Lexa’s hard dick.  Lexa moaned at the contact and carried her to the bed and tried to lay her down on it.  “Uh uh,” Clarke grunted between kisses.

“What do you want, Clarke?”  Lexa breathed while nibbling Clarke’s earlobe.  Clarke loved it when Lexa nibbled on her earlobes.

“I want,” soft moan.  “I want you.  On your back,” breathy sigh.  Clarke rubbed herself against Lexa before dropping her legs and weight to stand.  Lexa got on the bed and laid down in the center with her head up on a pillow, Alex up like a leaning curved flagpole.  Clarke considered her options before straddling her girlfriend and grinding down against the underside of her cock.

“Oh my God,” Clarke moaned.

At the same time Lexa breathed, “Oh fuck.”

“I’m thinking about it,” Clarke teased grinding down again.

“Jesus, Clarke,” Lexa panted.  Clarke was so warm and wet against her.  Never in her life had she wanted something as much as she wanted Clarke to grind down on her again.  Clarke granted her unspoken wish.  “That feels so good, Clarke.”

Clarke ground down again with a husky moan.  The next time Clarke ground down, Lexa pushed up to meet her and they found a rhythm together.  Clarke bent down to suck on Lexa’s nipples while Lexa squeezed Clarke’s breasts.

“Clarke,” Lexa panted.  “It’s getting,” a deep moan.  “Harder not to come,” a deep moan of pleasure.

“Almost there,” Clarke panted.  “God, Lexa.  You feel so fucking good.  It’s all I can do not to sink down onto you so I can feel you inside me.”

“Clarke,” Lexa moaned grabbing Clarke’s hips and digging in her nails, pulling Clarke to speed the rhythm.

“Oh fuck, yeah,” Clarke went rigid on top of her and released a stuttered moan.  

Lexa felt Clarke’s clit throb against her cock.  The quarterback came hard, Clarke saw the semen shoot onto Lexa’s stomach, she wanted to lick it off.  Clarke  _ needed _ to lick it off, so she did.  Slipping down, kissing her girlfriend’s breasts and ribs on the way down.  Lexa watched with hooded eyes as Clarke stuck out her tongue and tentatively tasted the off-white goo.  She liked it, Lexa tasted good, she wrapped her lips around the area and licked and sucked the cum.  Sucking hard on Lexa’s skin as she finished to leave a deep red mark.

Lexa was getting hard again, Clarke was so fucking sexy.  Due to Clarke’s position over her body, her erection was coming up in the blonde’s cleavage and it was making her even harder seeing her dick between Clarke’s beautiful breasts.  

Clarke felt it twitch and touch one of her breasts and looked down.  “Well hello there,” Lexa could hear the smile in Clarke’s voice.  Clarke scooted down to better examine the hard flesh. She looked it up and down and met Lexa’s eyes asking a question.

Lexa nodded, it would have been imperceptible to anyone else.  Alex twitched with Lexa’s permission to Clarke.  The blonde stuck out her tongue and licked the underside of Lexa’s dick from base to head.  Lexa made the sexiest sound Clarke had ever heard.

“Are you okay, love?”  Clarke checked with genuine concern.

“I’m good, feels good,” Lexa murmured.  “I trust you.”

“Do you want me to go on?”

“Very much,” Alex twitched in agreement.

Clarke stuck out her tongue again and gently tongued the head of Lexa’s dick.  Lexa closed her eyes and moaned.  Clarke opened her mouth and sucked the head into her mouth, swirling her tongue around it.  

Lexa moaned again.  “Feels so good, Clarke.”  Clarke took more of the brunette’s cock into her mouth, swirling her tongue and sucking gently.  Lexa felt a tell tale tightness in her groin.  

“Clarke, I’m gonna …”  Clarke met her eyes and sucked again, tonguing at her slit.  Lexa came in Clarke’s mouth while their eyes were locked together.  Clarke released her softening dick to swallow the cum then licked it clean.  Lexa’s head dropped back onto the pillow with a moan.  Clarke’s licks were far from relaxing, Lexa was getting hard again.

Clarke climbed up the brunette to straddle her again.  Hot wet pussy pressing onto the underside of Lexa’s hardening cock.  Clarke kissed her, it was full of want and need and Lexa felt the same wants and needs, but knew she wasn’t ready for them yet.

Lexa flipped them over and began kissing her way down the blonde’s body.  Kissing, licking, sucking.  Clarke moaned and panted.  Lexa’s fingers found their way to Clarke’s throbbing clit.  She circled it gently, once, twice, thrice, before slipping two long fingers into her girlfriend while her lips and were occupied on a perfect breast.

“Oh. Fuck, Lex,” Clarke praised.  “That feels so fucking good.”

Lexa pumped her fingers in and out of the blonde, enjoying the whines and moans that escaped her girlfriend.  Pumping deeper and faster and curling her fingers until Clarke’s body seized up and Lexa felt the blonde flutter and tighten around her fingers. “Mmmm, Lexaaah,” Clarke moaned huskily as she came.

Lexa moved up and kissed Clarke softly.  “I love you, so much.  But I’m not ready for that, not yet.”

Clarke kissed her back, her orgasm left her with a diminished capacity to form a coherent sentence so her reply was a murmured, “Okay, love.”

Lexa laid down next to her exhausted girlfriend and helped her curl up into her side.  Several minutes passed before Clarke hummed and kissed her shoulder.  “I love you, Lexa.  I’m sorry I pushed, I shouldn’t have.”

“Heat of the moment,” Lexa said.  “I understand, it was very tempting.  But I would have regretted it.  And I never want to regret anything I do with you.”

“Are you okay with tonight’s activities?  With what I did?”

Lexa kissed the top of her head, Clarke sounded so unsure, Lexa wanted to cry.  “Love, everything we did tonight, I wanted to do.  I don’t regret anything, If I don’t want to do something, I’m not going to do it.  I’m comfortable with you touching it and even sucking on it, obviously.  I don’t know how you’re so good at that already.  I’m just not ready for... penetration.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to do when you felt comfortable to let me touch you,” Clarke admitted.  “I’ve still got a lot of ideas, so, just be aware.”  Clarke slid a hand up to cup Lexa’s cheek and turn her to look in her eyes.  “Do you want to talk about it?”

The sad look in Lexa’s eyes told Clarke everything she needed to know.  The ghost of what happened with Costia was still haunting Lexa.  Clarke felt even worse for pushing.  Lexa, ever reading her thoughts, stopped the thought train Clarke was riding.  “Clarke, I always want you to tell me what you’re feeling.  Even if it’s something I can’t do, I want to know what you’re feeling.  Please don’t stop sharing with me because you think it hurts me.”

“I pressured, I promised myself I wasn’t going to pressure you.”

“You didn’t pressure, you didn’t ask me to do it, you didn’t try to do it, you just shared what you were feeling,” Lexa used a finger to tilt Clarke’s head up to meet her eyes.  “I’m glad I make you feel good.  I like that you want to do those things with me, I want to do those things with you.  As soon as I’m ready, you’ll be the first to know.”  She tilted her own head to kiss the blonde softly.

“Mmm, if you keep kissing me like that we’re going to have to go again,” Clarke purred.

“Oh really?”  Lexa wiggled her eyebrows and kissed Clarke deeply.  They each came two more times before falling asleep, completely spent.

\------

In the morning they showered before going in search of breakfast before heading to the parks. Both of them starving after the previous nights activities.

As soon as they walked into the resort restaurant, they had regrets.  “Clarke, Lexa, you came!”  Zoe shouted.

Clarke looked at her girlfriend and gave her a slight leer.  “She has  _ no _ idea.”  

“We can grab something to go and duck out,” Lexa offered.

“No point, they would just stalk us,” Clarke shrugged.  “We’ll ditch them at Transportation.”

They got in line to order, Clarke ordered Mickey Waffles, Lexa ordered an omelette.  Once they had their food and a place to sit, they divided the waffles and omelette between them, while making small talk with the Delinquents.  Most of the table watched this food swapping ballet enthralled.  They had been watching it for years and still didn’t understand how they just  _ knew  _ how much of what the other wanted.  

“Has anyone seen Anya?”  Lexa asked.  She hadn’t seen her since they got off of the airport shuttle.

“She left early this morning for her conference,” Raven said a little too quickly.

Monty gave Raven the side eye.  “Rae, where have you been sleeping?”

“Um,” Raven looked at her watch.  “Oh, would you look at the time, I’ve got a meet and greet to get to.”  Raven jumped up and left the restaurant as quickly as she could without running. 

“That wasn’t suspicious at all,” Jasper said.

“Anya wouldn’t!”  Clarke exclaimed.

“Clarke, I’m pretty sure she’s been sleeping with my therapist, I think she would.”

“I know she’s been sleeping with your therapist,” Linc told her.  “You don’t want to know how I know.”

“I do not,” Lexa concurred.

“Gross,” was all Clarke could say.

“So, what’s everyone doing today?”  Murphy asked changing the subject.

The plan for most of them was to go to Epcot, Murphy and Wells were planning to go to Animal Kingdom.  Clarke and Lexa exchanged a glance and in unison said, “Downtown Disney.”  They would shake everyone after breakfast and catch a bus to the Magic Kingdom.

As everyone was gathering their things to head out for the day, Wells came up behind Clarke.  “Can we talk?” He asked her.

“There’s nothing else to say,” Clarke linked her arm with Lexa and walked out of the restaurant in the direction of the bridge to Downtown Disney.  They caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom from there.  Walking hand in hand down Main Street they ran into Raven, who wouldn’t look Lexa in the eye.

“Really, Rae?”  Clarke groaned.

“What do you want me to say, Clarke?”

Clarke shrugged.

“I don’t want you to say anything,” Lexa said.  “I don’t want to know.”

“Fair enough, can I hang with you guys today?”

“Yeah, but we’ve got ground rules,” Clarke told her.

“Hit me,” Raven nodded.

“No complaining about our ride choices or how ‘cute’ we are,” Lexa said.

“No trying to rewire animatronics to go haywire and slaughter everyone in the parks,” Clarke added.

“Just stay away from the animatronics, altogether.  Keep your hands and feet in the ride vehicles at all times,” Lexa clarified.

“Funsuckers,” Raven griped.

“No telling little kids that Mickey Mouse is just a guy in a suit,” Clarke continued.

“No sexual harassment of princes or princesses will be tolerated,” Lexa added.

“Oh my God!  Can I do anything fun?”

“Your kind of fun, no.  Our kind of fun, yes,” Lexa told her.

“Only Clexa approved fun,” Raven rolled her eyes.  “Fine, I’ll be good.”

“Good, let's go ride Jungle Cruise,” Clarke tugged Lexa toward Adventureland.  Raven followed along.

****

They had a surprisingly good day together.  Raven was on her best behavior and started actually enjoying acting like a kid at Disney World. They had dinner together at Liberty Tree Tavern before Raven excused herself to go back to the resort.

Clarke and Lexa stayed to watch the fireworks and the parade.  Lexa sat on a low wall with Clarke leaning back against her.  The Photopass guy handed them a card after the parade.  When they used the passcode on the card they found three photos of themselves silhouetted against the Castle and the fireworks.  In one they were obviously kissing.  That picture would be the lock screen on Clarke’s phone until the day they got married.

\------

When they got back to the room Linc and Luna were nowhere to be found.  Lexa’s phone chimed as she pulled it out to text Anya.  Clarke was so wound up from the day that she was practically vibrating.  She went into the bedroom and pulled the bag of joints Monty had sent over from their hiding spot.  She stepped out onto the patio and listened to make sure no one else was outside to smell the hydro before lighting one up.  Lexa joined her on the patio a few hits in.  “Dad called, he wanted to check in.  Don’t bogart that.”

Clarke passed it over, “Sensory overload, I needed to come down.”

Lexa nodded as she held in a hit and passed it back to the blonde.  She slowly released the smoke and leaned in for a kiss before Clarke could take another hit.  It was soft and chaste.  

They finished it in silence holding hands.  They went back inside, “Cuddle me?”  Clarke asked softly.

“Starting to kick in?”  Lexa smiled feeling the warm fuzzy feeling start to take over her body.

Clarke hummed and started stripping off her clothes.  “Naked cuddles,” Clarke demanded.

Lexa stripped down and climbed into the bed with her girlfriend.  Lexa was the back spoon, which suited her just fine since it made it very easy to bury her face in Clarke’s flaxen waves and inhale her scent.  She ran her hands slowly all over Clarke’s skin, so soft, so warm.  “You feel so nice.”

Clarke giggled.  “I like the way you feel against me.  Nothing in between us, just skin.”  Clarke caught one of Lexa’s hands and brought it up to her lips to kiss.  Then she held it to her chest over her heart.  “I love you, Lexa.”

“I love you, Clarke.”  They fell asleep like that.

\------

The morning came with Alex pushing against Clarke’s ass.  “Good morning to you, too,” the blonde hummed.

“Hmmm,” Lexa slowly came to alertness.

Clarke ground her ass against Alex.

Lexa moaned.

“Touch me,” Clarke whined.  Lexa rubbed her hands along Clarke’s side and stomach.  Clarke ground her ass against Lexa again.

“Clarke,” Lexa whined as Clarke’s soft ass rubbed against her cock.

“Do you want me to stop?”  Clarke asked.

“No, but I have to pee first,” Lexa rolled out of the bed and headed for the bathroom.  

Clarke watched her go.  “That ass is just incredible.  I, like, want to bite it.”

Lexa sat down to pee, she was so hard there was no way she would be able to control the stream otherwise.  “You want to bite my ass?”  She asked from the bathroom.

“Yes,”  Clarke replied sprawling out on the bed in all of her naked glory.

Lexa flushed and washed up before sauntering back into the bedroom.  She moaned at the sight of a naked Clarke starfished on the bed.  

As it turns out, morning sex is Lexa’s favorite kind of sex.

****

****  
  
  
  



	25. Summer 2010:  Part Three

Lexa was nervous.  She was meeting Anya in the resort shop.  She had told Clarke she needed to grab some Tylenol before she headed up to the villa for the night.  They were going to order a pizza and watch cartoons.  It was actually still pretty early, they had spent the day at Animal Kingdom and planned to spend tomorrow back at the Magic Kingdom, alone.  Last night, she had texted Anya for an assist.  She had spotted the perfect ring for Clarke on Main Street, but she couldn’t buy it with the blonde at her side.

“Psst, hey,” Anya stage whispered.  “You wanna buy a ring?”

Lexa rolled her eyes, “Did you get it?”

“Yeah, I got it at the shop in Downtown Disney.  What are you up to, Lex?”  Anya handed Lexa the jewelry box.

“I’m going to propose in Fantasyland tomorrow,” Lexa opened it and looked at the silver band made up of Mickey logos.

“I’m pretty sure that’s already happened.”

“Clarke proposed to me when I was seven, now I’m seventeen …”

“Almost seventeen,” Anya interrupted.

“. . . almost seventeen, and I have an actual ring,” Lexa pocketed the ring box.

“Where are you getting the money to pay me back for that?”

Lexa handed her a wad of bills, “I’ve been saving my allowance for months.  I was going to order one and propose on her birthday.  But we’re here now,” Lexa had a soft dreamy look.

“You’re so gross,” Anya muttered.  “Commander Heart-Eyes.”

“Whatever,” Lexa scoffed.  “What you’re doing with Raven is gross.”

“She’s eighteen,” Anya shrugged.

“You’re twenty-three!”  Lexa refrained from shouting but only just.

“Lex, calm down,” Anya said.  “We’re just having a little fun before she leaves for college.  I’m not taking advantage, you know I wouldn’t do that.”

Lexa shook her head at her and sighed.  “I know, Raven can come on pretty strong.”

“Yes she can,” Anya agreed.  “Go cuddle your girl.”

\------

Lexa wandered into their villa and heard the most traumatizing noises coming from the other bedroom.  “Oh my gawd!”  She went to the room she shared with Clarke and found her with earbuds in, lying on the bed scrolling through something on her phone.  

The blonde looked up and smiled when she saw Lexa come in.  She popped out an earbud, “Luna makes the most god awful squealing noises.”

“I heard, you want to get out of here?” Lexa dropped a quick kiss on Clarke’s lips.

“Yes, please.  Did you get what you needed?”

“I did, come on, we’ll go over to Downtown.”

They walked hand in hand over the lake.  It was still light enough to see, but the lights were starting to come on.  They had planned to order a pizza and have a quiet night in, but Luna’s high pitched sex sounds changed the plan.

“We don’t sound like that, do we?”  Lexa asked.

“I don’t think so, we’d probably have to ask Anya to be sure.”

Lexa winced.

Clarke pulled out her phone.

****

**Disney Princess**

OMG, Luna squeaks!  Please tell me we don’t sound like that.

**Scary Bitch**

No, you sound like a bear in rut.  Lexa’s pretty quiet.

****

“Could be worse,” Clarke showed Lexa the reply.

“Anya’s ‘Scary Bitch’ in your phone, now?  Did she quit responding to ‘Cheekbones’?”

“She changed it at dinner last Sunday,” Clarke shrugged.  “Do I really sound like a bear in rut?”

“I think you sound like the girl I love enjoying my fingers buried deep inside her,” Lexa teased, Clarke blushed.

They walked, hand in hand, through the shopping center stopping to take selfies in front of the spitting Stitch, Lego sculptures, and the erupting volcano.  They took so many selfies in World of Disney that a cast member came over and offered to take a few pictures of them.  Clarke bought a pair of matching tiaras and insisted they wear them the rest of the night.

\------

The next day, after a little morning coitus, they headed over to the Magic Kingdom.  When Clarke went into a shop on Main Street to grab a couple of snacks, Lexa found a Photopass guy and made arrangements for him to find her by the sword in the stone at five o’clock.

Clarke exited the confectionary and shared her Mickey cookie with Lexa on the way over to Tomorrowland to get a couple of Fastpasses for Space Mountain before riding Tomorrowland Transit Authority and the Carousel of Progress and heading over to Adventureland for a Dole Whip and a ride on the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean.  They still had plenty of time before their Space Mountain Fastpass time came around and got in line for Splash Mountain.

Usually in queue lines they just held hands and looked for hidden Mickeys and design details.  Today, Lexa was nervous and a little clingy.  She pressed against Clarke’s back and put her chin on the blonde's shoulder.  

Clarke found Lexa’s hands and pulled her arms around her waist.  “You okay, love?”

“I am,” Lexa murmured.  “Tired I think.”

Clarke hummed.  “Maybe we should be getting more sleep.”

“If you want,” Lexa grinned into Clarke’s neck.

“I don’t,” Clarke said softly.

“I didn’t think so.”

“Look at the cute baby gays!”  One of the guys behind them squealed a little.

“I don’t even remember being that young,” his partner chuckled.  They were middle aged, probably in their late thirties to early forties, obviously a couple.  The squealer a little younger with dark hair and physically fit.  His partner was rail thin with silvering blond hair.

“You were adorable,” the first guy said.  “I’ve seen pictures.”

“Oh no, I was tragic and in the closet,” the older guy said.

Clarke and Lexa had turned their full attention to the couple behind them.

“How long have you two been together?”  Clarke asked.

“We’re here for our tenth anniversary,” the dark haired one practically bounces.  “I’m Adam, this is Hal.”

“I’m Clarke and my quiet companion is Lexa,” Clarke held out a hand to shake.  Lexa nodded acknowledgement.

“How long have you been together?”  Hal asked.

“Since I was eight,” Clarke grinned.  She loved telling their story to anyone who wanted to hear it and launched into it with aplomb.  

“Oh my God, that’s the cutest thing ever,” Adam exclaimed after Clarke had finished their story so far.

They chatted their way through the queue and rode in the same log.

\------

At five o’clock, Lexa had managed to steer Clarke to the sword in the stone without the slightest bit of suspicion.  Her eyes found the Photopass guy and he winked at her that he was ready.  

“Remember the first time we were here,” Lexa asked.

“Of course I do,” Clarke grinned and tugged at the sword.  Lexa took advantage of Clarke’s distraction to drop to one knee and pull out the ring box.  She opened it, held it up, and waited for Clarke to focus on her again.  It rarely took more than a few seconds for Clarke to return her attention to Lexa.  Today was no exception.

Clarke’s eyes flicked to her first then her whole body turned.  She stepped closer to the brunette, eyes locked together.  “Lex?”

Lexa didn’t see the crowd that was gathering around, if she had she might have gotten nervous.  “Clarke, the first time we were here, you asked me to be your queen.  But since I was seven and you didn’t have a ring, I thought maybe I should do this right,” she swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat.  “You are the best thing that ever happened to me.  You are my best friend and the love of my life and I’m so glad that I met you so young so that we never had to miss any time together.  I know we can’t get married until after college, but I wanted to give you a real ring and ask you to be with me for the rest of our lives.  Marry me?”

Clarke reached down and pulled Lexa up then she held out her right hand for Lexa to slip on the ring.  “I love you,” there were tears streaming down her face.

“Is that a yes?”  Lexa asked softly.

“Of course it’s a yes!”  Clarke threw her arms around Lexa and kissed her with all of the love in her heart.

The aw’s and applause that came up around them broke them apart.  Lexa turned red at the sight of the large crowd that had formed around them.  She saw the Photopass guy nod and wink.  Off to their left she spotted Adam and Hal with phones up, Adam taking pictures and Hal taking video.

“Okay, show’s over,” Clarke called.

Several people called over congratulations as the crowd dispersed.  Clarke admired the ring, “When did you get this?”

“I asked Anya to pick it up for me yesterday,” Lexa admitted.  She handed the Photopass guy their card and he transferred the pictures he had taken to their account.  “Thanks,” she told him as he handed the card back.

“You’re welcome, congratulations,” he smiled and wandered off.

Adam and Hal came over and showed them the video.  They exchanged emails and Facebook names so that the guys could send them the pictures.

“You want to come to dinner with us,” Adam asked.  “We would love to have you.”

“Babe, they just got engaged, I think they’ll want to be alone,” Hal told him.

“Oh, I guess so,” Adam said sheepishly.  “I’ll email you the pics and video when we get back to the hotel.”

Clarke hugged them both and they said goodbye.  

They left the Magic Kingdom and caught the monorail over the Epcot.  They had dinner on the Italy pavilion and watched the fireworks from England.

\------

Back in their room that night, the lovemaking had gotten intense.  There were many whispered words of love and affection.  Touches that felt like they were stroking their very souls.  Lexa was on her back, Clarke was straddling her, rubbing her center against Lexa’s very hard dick.  Lexa pulled Clarke down by her shoulder to kiss her passionately.  While Clarke’s lips were on hers her center was raised.  Lexa felt the impulse again and this time it wasn’t scary.  This time it felt like it was right.  

She slipped a hand between them and wrapped it around Alex, straightening her dick up to press the tip against Clarke’s entrance.  Clarke separated their mouths and looked into Lexa’s eyes.

“Are you sure?”  The blonde asked with a hand on Lexa’s cheek.

“I’m sure, it feels right,” Lexa told her.

“How do you want to do it?”

“I like it when you’re on top,” Lexa admitted.  “But I like it when I’m on top, too.”

Clarke leaned back upright, careful not to accidently hurt Lexa or push it in.  She looked down at Lexa who looked so beautiful and loving and adjusted herself to place the tip of Lexa’s penis back at her entrance.  She slowly began to lower herself down on it while looking into Lexa’s big green eyes.  She moaned at the feeling of this new part of Lexa inside her.  Somehow it felt even more intimate than all of the times that the brunette had had her tongue deep inside her.

Lexa looked at her with love and awe.  The stretch of Lexa inside of her felt so nice, there was a little pain, but in a good way as Clarke slid all the way down her fiancee's penis.  “Fuck, Lexa,” Clarke panted.  “You feel so fucking good.”

“So do you, Clarke,” Lexa panted.  Hot, soft, tight, wetness wrapped around her sensitive cock.  She felt safe, she felt warm, she felt loved, she felt good.  Clarke started gently rolling her hips and moaned.  Lexa pushed up to meet Clarke as she ground down.  They moaned together.

“That’s so fucking good,” Clarke breathed.  They rocked together, Lexa held onto Clarke’s hips to steady and steer her.  Clarke absent mindedly fondled Lexa’s breasts.  “Fuck that’s nice.”

Lexa liked that Clarke was vocal, it made it easy to know what she liked and what she didn’t.  They rocked together, slow and steady.  Clarke started to flutter and tighten around Lexa.  Lexa tried to keep Clarke in the same rhythm but they were both starting to devolve into rutting beasts.  Clarke went rigid and came with a deep cry, clamping down on Lexa’s dick, fluttering and clamping again.  Lexa came inside of her with such force that it tore a breathy cry of “Clarke!” from her throat.

Clarke collapsed forward onto Lexa’s chest.  The motion caused Lexa’s softening dick to slip out of her and slap wetly against the brunette’s leg.  Lexa wrapped her arms around Clarke and held her tight.  Whispering soft words of love and praise to each other.

\------

In the morning they made love again.  Clarke liked the feeling of Lexa coming inside of her, the way Lexa’s penis twitched inside of her and the feeling of the hot cum shooting into her.  This joy was evident in the particularly obscene moans, whines, and pants.

They showered and dressed with many soft kisses and touches.  Walking out of their room to a living area full of people.

“That was so hot,” Jasper practically vibrated.

“I wish someone made me come like that,” Zoe lamented.

“Oh my God!  Did you fuckers sit out here and listen to us making love?!”  Clarke shouted.  Lexa was so red she was purple.  Anya, Lincoln, and Luna were nowhere to be seen.

“Aw, they’re engaged and now it’s making love,” Raven teased.

“What’s wrong with you people?”  Lexa shouted.  “I have a reasonable expectation of privacy in my own room and you perverts are out here listening.  Get the fuck out!”

“Hey, you actually saw me fucking Wells, all I did was listen to you from another room,” Murphy defended while waiting for his turn to slip out.

“And I left the room, I didn’t stand there and watch for half an hour!”  Lexa shouted.  

“We just wanted to see the ring,” Harper said.  “We saw the pictures on Facebook.”

“Then you should have texted instead of violating our privacy!”  Clarke yelled.  She slammed the door behind the last person out.  “How did they even get in here?”

It would be evening before Lincoln discovered that his room key was missing.  Jasper had lifted it at breakfast.  Linc and Luna had gone on to the parks without everyone else.

Before they left the room for the day, Clarke logged into her email and forwarded the video Hal had taken to their parents.

\------

They spent the day at Epcot.  Anya texted them around lunchtime to meet up and they had lunch on the Mexico pavilion.

“Tell me all about it,” Anya grinned.  “Did Lex cry?”

“No, but I did,” Clarke admitted.

“I kicked your girlfriend out of our room this morning,” Lexa griped.

“I heard,” Anya sighed.  “I backed you up, what they did was pretty vile.  I think Raven is planning some serious penance as an apology.”

  
“I notice you didn’t reject the girlfriend label,” Clarke pointed out.

Anya sighed, “She’s not my girlfriend, we’re going with a fuck buddy label.”

“Leave it to Anya to kick romance to the curb,” Lexa scoffed.

“Meh,” Anya shrugged.  “If Dad asks, I’ve seen you every day.”

“Why?”

“He called last night and wanted to talk to you but I told him you and Clarke hadn’t come back to the room yet,” Anya said.  “I’m pretty sure Abby is suspicious that you two are going at it like rabbits, and, well, I’m pretty sure you are and me being in the same suite isn’t going to stop you.”

“That’s true,” Clarke admitted.

“And frankly, I really don’t enjoy the dulcet sounds of my little sister fucking the neighbor girl.”

“Oh come on, neighbor girl?”  Clarke scoffed.

“Fine, my little sister fucking my other little sister.  I bet neighbor girl sounds better now, doesn’t it?”

Clarke turned red, “Yes, neighbor girl is fine.”

“Great,” Anya wadded up her trash.  “I’m off to violate my fuck buddy, you two have fun now.”  Anya kissed them both on the head and left.

\------

Two days after they got back from Orlando, Lexa resumed her weekly deposits down in endocrinology.  After she was done she wandered up to Abby’s office.

She stuck her head in the partially opened door and knocked on the frame.

“Hey Lexa,” Abby smiled.

“Hey Abby,” despite her close relationship with Abby, she was feeling a mixture of fear and shame over the amount of carnal knowledge she had of Clarke.

“Come in, sit down,” the doctor waved.  “What’s up?”

Lexa just sat there and looked guilty.

“Really, Lexa?”

Lexa studied the floor tiles.

“I’m not naive enough to think you two were going to wait until marriage.”

Lexa nodded while continuing to stare at the floor.

“Are you okay, Lexa?”

Lexa’s head shot up and she met Abby’s eye.  “Of course I’m okay,” she was perplexed.

“I know my daughter, I also know you,” Abby explained.  “Clarke charges forward with little forethought and you go along with her because that’s what you do.”

“Yeah, most of the time,” Lexa admitted.  “Not about this, though.  We talk about everything, we don’t do anything unless both of us are comfortable with it.  She’s perfect.”

“She’s not perfect,” Abby laughed.  “But I understand.”  Abby reached into her desk and pulled out a bag of condoms.  She tossed them into Lexa’s lap.  “If you knock my daughter up, I’m going to be very put out.”

Lexa was so shocked she just opened and closed her mouth like a fish.

“I’m not ready to be a Grandmother, Lexa.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

  
  
  



	26. Fall 2010 - Spring 2013

****Fall 2010** **

Senior year is a blur, a football championship, accolades, and another state ring for Lexa.  Division II schools were trying to recruit her despite her already accepting academic scholarships to Tulane.  She was getting rather annoyed with the persistence of recruiters treating her like a silly girl while trying to recruit her to show how progressive and diverse their school was.  Lexa rolled her eyes a lot that fall, Clarke was very concerned that surgery would be required to repair an eye muscle pulled by one too many over the top eye rolls.  The blonde was usually beside Lexa during these meetings since many were held over dinners at some of New Orleans finest dining experiences.  At least one of them owned by her friend’s parents.  The way Luna laughed at Lexa staring at the ceiling while Clarke ripped into another recruiter that attempted to mansplain college football to the mighty Lexa Woods became the stuff of legend.  At the end of the night, Luna recovered the restaurant's security footage which just barely captured Lexa staring blankly upwards while a standing Clarke pointed an accusatory finger at the cowering recruiter.  There were a great many regrets that the footage did not have sound.  It was added to the memory reel shown during the senior assembly just before graduation to wild applause.  Lexa stared blankly at the ceiling, again.  Clarke stood and took a bow.  Luna denied rumors that she had sold several copies.

Lexa had no interest in playing college ball.  In high school the scrutiny was mostly local with a few die hard high school football fans (football is serious business in the South) watching her records and plays around the state.  She had seen herself make a play or run a touchdown on the local news at least weekly since joining the varsity team.  The level of scrutiny at the collegiate level would never allow her to keep her secret.  Lexa played football because it was the only sport she could play where what was in her pants was irrelevant.  The South wasn’t known for co-ed teams.  Girls basketball would have had questions about advantages because of her testosterone levels, which still weren’t as high as even her most effeminate male classmates.  The same was true of soccer, volleyball, softball, and most of track & field.  She could run cross country because gender wasn’t a factor.  Football was the only sport she could play where discussion of what was in her pants was completely off limits.  There were court decisions on the books.  

\------

Clarke’s eighteenth birthday arrived just ahead of the mid-term elections, Lexa went along as Clarke voted for the first time.  They stayed up late into the evening to watch the national returns.  Clarke railed against fear mongering and the failure of the political establishment to court millennials.  Lexa asked Clarke when she was going to announce her candidacy.  Clarke replied that she would much prefer to be the power behind the throne, not the person in front of the cameras.

\------

**2011**

For New Year’s Eve, Clarke and Lexa talked their way out of the high society parties their parents attended and rang in the New Year with multiple orgasms.  Lexa rolled her eyes when Clarke giggled that they “banged in the New Year.”

\------

Spring Break would normally have been spent on the beach down at Grand Isle or in Alabama, but the still rather disturbing state of the Gulf waters post Deepwater Horizon voided any possibility of a week on the beach.  With upcoming AP tests and finals most of the krewe had neither the time nor the inclination to plan some elaborate trip.  The Delinquents spent most of the week in the pool at Jasper’s house indulging in a little Skaikru.  Raven was home from college for the week, but only turned up to gatherings when Lexa knew Anya was at work.  Anya had finally gotten her own apartment in the warehouse district close to the hospital.  Everyone was pretty sure that’s where Raven was staying.

Wells was often at group events with Murphy, but had long since given up trying to get Clarke to forgive him, which made things better for all of them.

\------

Senior Prom arrived in a flurry of AP test prep.  Last years tux was pulled out and matched with a red waistcoat and bow tie to match Clarke’s red dress.  Monty farmed out the actual DJ duties to a junior who was instructed to just play the correct playlists at the right time.

When he saw Clarke and Lexa enter the hotel ballroom he signaled his stand in to cue up “She’s a Rainbow.”  When the first notes played, Lexa smiled at her brilliant fiancee, Clarke smiled back and pulled her out onto the dance floor.   

A few songs later, the soft piano melody of “The Luckiest” begin.  Lexa pulled Clarke close, slipping one hand on the blonde’s lower back, the other holding her hand.  Lexa sang along softly while looking into Clarke’s beautiful blue eyes.  As every time Lexa sang her this song, a tear slipped down her cheek while she smiled at the love of her life.  When the song finished, Lexa kissed her fiancee’s tear away.  

“Will you always know me?”  Clarke asked quietly.

“Anywhere in the universe over a million lifetimes,” Lexa promised.

They snuck out a few minutes later.  There was an after party at Jasper’s, they never made it, wrapped around each other in a king size bed on the fourth floor of the hotel where the prom was held.

\------

Graduation night arrived.  Lexa was the Valedictorian, Clarke was the Salutatorian.  Less that half a point separated them.  Lincoln joked that it was the only way to make sure they could sit together during the three hour ceremony.  They had spent weeks writing their speeches, they had known for weeks that one of them would be first and the other second, they didn’t know which.  With that in mind they wanted to write complimentary speeches, Clarke’s speech focused on the past and the things they must do better in the future.  Lexa’s speech focused on the future and the world they hoped to build for future generations. Many in the audience wondered what high offices the pair of them would hold one day.

\------

They spent their last summer all together lurking around Jasper’s pool.  Soon Jasper was off to his father’s alma mater, Ole Miss (“Hey, don’t knock Ole Miss sorority girls, my Mom was one!”).  Monty and Nathan were going off to Rice, Monty for computer engineering, Nathan was undeclared but figured he had time to think about it.  Atom had gotten a football scholarship to the University of Arkansas (“You don’t even have a felony arrest record!”  Lexa taunted.), he and Harper decided to call it quits instead of growing to hate each other over the distance.  Harper and Zoe were both heading off to Rhodes, after hearing Clarke and Lexa speak so favorably of the campus they looked into it and fell in love with the little liberal arts college in Memphis.  

Luna was going to the University of Texas at Austin.  Knowing the time and distance she and Linc decided to spend their last weeks together just enjoying each other before going their separate ways.  Luna joined the Griffin’s and Woods’ at the airport to see him off.  

“In nine years, if you still haven’t gotten over me, look me up,” Luna told him.

“Right back at’cha, babe,” he smiled and kissed her goodbye before hugging his family.

Lexa and Linc’s relationship had been straining for awhile.  She was angry at him for leaving her and she was angry at him for enlisting in the military in such an uncertain world.  “Don’t turn into one of those military assholes, okay?”  Lexa begged.

“I couldn’t if I tried,” he promised.  It’s possible that Lexa cried more than Luna that night.

The next day Clarke and Lexa moved into their dorm at Tulane.  They shoved their twin beds together and dropped a king size mattress topper on them.  They rarely slept separately before college, they weren’t going to start just because they were assigned twin beds.  All of the boxes were carried up, electronics installed, and beds made before the Griffin-Woods parents went back to Metairie leaving orders that Sunday dinners were still mandatory even if they were over eighteen and in college.

Clarke was laying face down on the bed flipping through one of her textbooks while Lexa memorized schedules and plotted the fastest routes between buildings at her desk.

“Hey Lex,” Clarke cooed.

“Yes, my love,” Lexa made a note on Clarke’s schedule.

“This is the longest we’ve been alone in a room with a bed without getting naked in a long time.”

“I suppose it is,” Lexa smirked.  “Are we going for a record?”

“Oh God, no,” Clarke rolled over.  “Come help me break in this bed.”

Lexa wasted no time stripping out of her move in day clothes and helping to relieve Clarke of hers.

The new neighbors weren’t fans.  It would have been less awkward if they didn’t share a bathroom with the two women who had to listen to their lovemaking.

\-----

Lincoln texted or called Clarke and Lexa once a week, usually just some minor observation:   _I’ve been spoiled by New Orleans coffee and I can’t drink this swill._ Another week:  _The local jazz club is a joke._

Late one night, Lexa received what she assumed was a drunk text that read:   _i really wsh u 2 wer here lonlry_

Clarke called his number and they talked about nothing on speaker for a little while.  Lincoln was very drunk, but safely in his barracks.

\------

First semester ended with all A’s for all three of them.  Lincoln came home for the holidays a lot bulkier than when he left.  He had gotten a walk on for Navy and had played well enough that next season he would have a position.

He only saw Luna when all of the Delinquents attended a Christmas party at Jasper’s.  She had started seeing someone in Austin, it wasn’t serious, but it was how she could move on.  Lincoln wasn’t devastated per say, but he didn’t take it very well.

The night ended in a shouting match between Lincoln and Luna.

\------

**2012**

Spring semester breezed by, Lincoln decided to stay in Annapolis for summer.  The Delinquents assumed that he didn’t want to have a run in with Luna.  That was part of it, but the main reason was that he had met an incoming Freshman and he got a job down at the marina  and roomed with a couple of other cadets for the summer so he could get to know her better.

 

In a show of solidarity with their LGBT+ friends, all of the Delinquents attended New Orleans Pride that June.  Southern Decadence had been around for a long time and none of them had felt the need to join in the debauchery, Pride was fun.  Decked out from head to toe in rainbows, Lexa smiled at her fiancee and said, “I really do come in rainbows!”

“I’ve been telling you for years, my love.”

****

When the parents decided to go up to Annapolis to visit Linc for a week, Lexa didn’t want to go.  Clarke negotiated for Baltimore, they had never been to Baltimore and it was still close enough to Annapolis to make seeing Lincoln easy.

Lincoln didn’t tell them about the girl.

Clarke and Lexa managed to crash a birthday party on a pirate ship and spent the rest of the week addressing everyone with pirate nicknames and saying ‘Arrrrrr’ a lot.  Jake was No Beard, Abby was Bloody Barber, Indra was Angry Eye, and Gus was Gunpowder Gus.  They refused to give Lincoln a pirate name because he wouldn’t wear an eye patch.  Clarke did threaten to knee him in the barnacles for trying to snatch her soft-shell crab sandwich and Gus referred to him as Barnacle for the rest of the day.

\------

The Delinquents spent a week of July at Monty’s parent’s place at Gulf Shores.  Luna joined them.  The guy she had been seeing back in the fall already cast aside and two others as well.  Nobody blamed her for Lincoln not coming home.

Clarke and Lexa were in the same room they had been in on their last visit.  Clarke waggled her eyebrows at Lexa, “Remember what happened in here?”

Lexa smirked and locked the door.

\------

Fall semester came and everyone parted ways until Christmas break.  Navy was playing on Christmas Eve so, Lincoln didn’t join them until two days later.  He mentioned a special someone back at Annapolis.

The real news of the holiday was the shift in Harper and Monroe’s relationship.  There had been a monster Halloween party on campus at Rhodes and they woke up the next morning naked in bed together with a numerous marks indicating they had a hell of a good time.  After a week of angst, fretting, and avoiding each other, they threw caution to the wind and tried it again without liquid courage.  

“So, I guess what we’re saying is, Clarke and Lexa have had the right idea all along,” Harper stated.

“What’s this I hear about you two,” Monty pointed at Clarke and Lexa, “Going off to Greece next semester?”

“I want to study policy and international relations in the birthplace of democracy,” Lexa nodded.

“I want to drink ouzo in the Mediterranean.  Maybe offend a deity over my beautiful fiancee,” Clarke smirked and kissed Lexa’s cheek.  “I might study a little law, too.”

\------

**Spring 2013**

The four months Clarke and Lexa spent in Athens were brilliant.  Neither of them were big fans of divulging their love of history and epic poetry to anyone but each other.  At the Acropolis, Lexa didn’t feel the need to correct the misconceptions of tourists.  She did spend a great deal of time staring at beautiful marble sculptures and feeling very young, small, and dumb.  It was kind of like when you find yourself on an empty mountain top fifty miles from the nearest street light and look up to see the Milky Way in all of it’s glory and feel very small and insignificant.

They spent days wandering Plaka.  They made friends with locals, well Clarke made friends with locals being the most outgoing of the two and Lexa was well liked by anyone who could get her talking, and found themselves invited to weddings, parties, and family dinners.

Clarke declared Hadrian's Arch a perfect monument to being passive aggressive.  

Their last full weekend in Greece, they and a couple of fellow students rented a boat and yachted around the islands.  Clarke drank ouzo, literally on the Mediterranean and tried very hard to stifle the moans while they had sex in their cabin.

In the morning, they were in the middle of a pretty intense make-out session when Clarke’s phone chimed.

 

**SuperDad**

Clarke, get off Lexa and call your mother.

****

“How does he _always_ know?!!?”  Clarke demanded.

“The odds are in his favor, my love, you spend most of your time attached to me.”

“Are you complaining?”

“Not at all, I’m happiest when you’re touching me, just pointing out that he doesn’t always know, just that the odds are always in his favor.”

 

**AthenianPrincess**

Is everything, okay?

**SuperDad**

Everything is fine, she needs your travel plans.

 

Clarke called Abby and exchanged information.  Abby happily told them that Lincoln would be home for the summer and he was bringing the mysterious girlfriend.  

\------

Clarke and Lexa arrived back in NOLA a full week ahead of the rest of the Delinquents.  While Clarke had a steamy love affair with Greek cuisines, Cajun and Creole would always be her favorites.  They didn’t make it to the house before having to stop for crawfish and a sno ball.

They moved into Clarke’s room for the summer.  Anya’s room had become Indra’s office.  Lexa’s room had piles of boxes from moving out of the dorms at Christmas to go to Greece, Lincoln and his girlfriend were expected to stay in his room.

“Lex,” Clarke said frustrated because after a really long uncomfortable international flight she could really use some tension relief.  “We have got to get our own place.”

“Jake and Abby will go to work in the morning,” Lexa assured.  “Getting our own place would require us to get paying jobs.”

“You win,” Clarke conceded.  Lexa was interning at an AIDS charity over the summer.  Clarke was interning at the ACLU office.

They were both at their respective offices when Lincoln and his girlfriend arrived a week later.  Abby had booked a private room at their favorite Garden District restaurant for dinner.  

Lexa picked Clarke up on the curb outside her office building. “Hey there, gorgeous,” she called from the driver’s seat of her old Jeep.  “You going my way?”

Clarke tossed her satchel in the back and climbed in the passenger seat.  “Is your way into my bed?”  Clarke flirted.

Lexa kissed her fiancee, “Most days, it is.”

“Maybe later then.  If Mom and Dad drink enough wine they can sleep through anything,” Clarke smirked.

“Honey, I love you, I am not having sex with you while Abby’s in the house.  I have no doubt that she will come in and do a condom check.”

“Still traumatized over a bag of condoms?”

“It’ll stay with me forever, Clarke.”

"And yet you've never put on a condom."

"I'm a complicated woman, my love."

"Sure you are, Lex."  Clarke kissed her hello.

They pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and took a few moments to ask about each others days and share a few chaste kisses before going in.  

“Clarke, get off Lexa and come on!”  Jake shouted from across the parking lot.

“I know you say he’s just playing the odds, but it’s uncanny, Lex.  It’s like his weird mutant super power.”

“Worst X-Man ever,” Lexa laughed.  “Come on my love, let’s go meet Lincoln’s new girl.”

Jake had made his way over to them and hugged his girls.  “Good day at the office?”  He asked.

“I wrote legislation,” Lexa said.  “It’ll be presented to a State Senator next week.”

“Don’t the legislators write the legislation?”  Jake asked walking toward the restaurant with a girl under each arm.

“Nope, usually a special interest writes the legislation and presents it to a politician to sign on to and take all of the credit,” Lexa explained.  “If the politician doesn’t like the first draft it gets notes and reworked until he or she signs on.  Then they destroy it in committee."  Lexa paused for a moment, "My job might be futile.”

Jake kissed her head and released the girls to walk in the door being held open by a hostess.  “What about my golden child?”

“Humans suck,” Clarke said simply.

They walked into the private room, Lincoln was sitting at the far end of the table with a small brunette girl beside him.  They were talking animatedly with Gus.  Indra and Abby were speaking to each other quietly.

“Lincoln!”  Jake roared.

Lincoln jumped up to run and tackle hug Jake.  He released Jake with a slap on the back and turned to hug Clarke and Lexa.

Lexa looked oddly perplexed.  Like she was trying very hard to remember something she had forgotten.  A memory rolling around like a loose marble.

“Love?”

Lexa blinked at Clarke.  The tiny brunette was now standing in front of them with Linc’s arm around her.  Lexa blinked at her.  Clarke noted that the tiny brunette looked very nervous but that was to be expected when meeting the family for the first time she supposed.

“Jake, Lexa, Clarke, this is my girlfriend, Octavia...”

“Blake,” Lexa snarled.

“Blake?” Clarke repeated.

Lexa hauled off and punched Lincoln in the jaw.  He didn’t even have time to react, just stumbled backwards.  “The fucking Blake girl?  Of all of the girls the bring home, you pick the Blake girl.  Did you bring her brother too?  I haven’t been humiliated recently,” she spat.

Clarke grabbed Lexa and steered her back out of the restaurant.  They ran into Anya on the way out.

“Lexa?  Clarke?”

“We’ll be at your place,” Clarke waved fishing Lexa’s keys out of the brunette's back pocket.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She’s a Rainbow - https://youtu.be/GW0Epv2iMD8
> 
> The Luckiest - https://youtu.be/f9bRmuP-kQY


	27. 2013 - 2015

They had been in Anya’s apartment just long enough for Clarke to get Lexa an ice pack for her hand and curl up together on the couch.  It was a small, minimalist space with calming creamy walls and a dark blue matching sofa and chair.  The accent tables were wrought iron and glass.   The painting above the television was one of Clarke’s abstract pieces from an experimental blue phase her senior year in high school  Clarke still liked the piece even if she didn’t think it was a good as it should have been.  It won a state competition, so someone thought it was good.  Another smaller wall by an opening into the hall was decorated with framed family photos.  A solid wood bookshelf was loaded with medical books with one lone shelf for novels.

Clarke reached for the remote controls and spent a few moments trying to work out Anya’s home entertainment setup before managing to turn on a music channel at low volume.  She wrapped her arms around Lexa and pulled her in close.  They lay like that for awhile before Anya came in.

“Did you have to take my parking spot?”  Anya griped.

Clarke shrugged, “Didn’t know where else to park, we usually ride the streetcar here.”

Anya crouched down in front of Lexa, “Sis?”

Lexa held out her swelling hand for Anya to examine.  She hissed when Anya moved her fingers.

“No breaks, we should wrap it up when you’re done icing it,” Anya confirmed and moved to sit in an armchair nearby.

Clarke kissed the side of Lexa’s head.  “Whenever you’re ready, my love.”

“I’m not sorry I punched him,” Lexa sighed.

“He shouldn’t have sprung it on you, on us, like that,” Anya agreed.

“Did he have anything to say for himself?”  Lexa asked.

“Mostly things like, ‘Fuck, I forgot how hard she hits’,” her sister told her.

“He’s been dating this girl for, what, a year?  He knew who she was, why didn’t he say something?”  Clarke asked.

“He said it was because he wanted to get to know her first.  Then he was afraid everyone would judge her because of her brother.  Then he was afraid everyone would be mad,” Anya explained.

“Jackass,” Lexa spat.  Clarke kissed her head again.

“She seems like a nice kid, she was very apologetic,” Anya got up and wandered into the kitchen she came back a few moments later with the bottle of ouzo they had brought her back from Greece and three shot glasses.  She poured out three shots and slid two across the coffee table.  “What do the Greeks say?”  Anya held up her shot glass.

"Yamas,” Clarke clicked her glass against Anya’s and waited for Lexa, who finally did the same.

"Yamas!” They said in unison and downed their shots.  Lexa laid down with her head in Clarke’s lap.

“Oh my fuck, that is awful!”  Anya wheezed.

“You get used to it,” Clarke nodded knowingly playing with Lexa’s wild curls.

“I’d rather not,” Anya admitted recapping the bottle.

There came a soft knock at the door.

“I’d rather Raven not know,” Lexa sighed.

“Raven has a key,” Anya went to the door.

“Lincoln can go fuck himself,” Lexa growled.

Anya opened the door to a small, but determined looking Octavia Blake.  “You’ve just got brass balls, don’t you?”

“Not really, but I’ve spent my whole life apologizing for my shithead brother, so it’s just habit now,” the girl said.  “Can I come in?”

Anya turned to look at Lexa who was glaring at the girl from Clarke’s lap.

“She’s got a shot in her so she might be a little slower than usual, but she’s still about as dangerous as a panther, do you understand?”  Anya asked.

“Yeah,” the smaller girl nodded.  Anya stepped out of the way and allowed Octavia entrance.

Octavia Blake moved like a woman who would slice a head off of a hydra and not blink.  Lexa sat up properly on the sofa, her knee touching Clarke’s and waited for the girl to speak.

“My brother is a complete shit,” Octavia started.  “I haven’t spoken to him since I started at the Naval Academy.  I am very sorry for how he treated you, he’s always been a misogynistic prick, he’ll always be a misogynistic prick.”

Lexa looked unimpressed.  Clarke was watching the girl and sizing her up.

“I’m a grudge holder, too,” Octavia admitted.  “But I didn’t do anything to you and I tried to stop him being a prick but it just got me knocked around.  Bellamy doesn’t even know that I’ve been seeing Lincoln.  Last I heard he was a bang-bang in Georgia.  Fort Benning, Fort Stewart, not sure which.”

Clarke obviously had a confused expression because Anya explained, “Bang-bangs are eleven bravo infantry.  All they do is shoot guns and catch bullets, hence ‘bang-bangs’, sometimes eleven ‘bullet-catchers’.”

Clarke nodded.

“He couldn’t even get into cooks school,” Octavia babbled nervously.  “Said he wanted to ‘go shoot some sand-’ -- well, you know.”  When no one reacted she started to tense up, worried.  “He’s a total piece of shit.”

Lexa just continued to stare at her.  Clarke and Anya exchanged glances, Anya’s eyebrow went up.

“Did you know that’s really unnerving?”  Octavia asked shifting from foot to foot.

Lexa nodded.

“Are you going to _say_ anything?”  Octavia tested nervously.

“I’m not pissed off at you, I’m pissed off at my idiot cousin,” Lexa answered in a monotone.  “He’s the one I punched.”

“Oh,” Octavia nodded.  “How’s your hand?”

“Hurts,” Lexa deadpanned.

Clarke snickered, Anya burst out laughing.

Octavia looked at them with sudden understanding, “You’re fucking with me.”

Lexa finally broke and snorted.  “Yeah, a little.  I am very angry with Lincoln, though.”

“Have a seat, kid,” Anya indicated the other armchair.  “You want a shot of ouzo?”

“I’ll pass.  Greek cousins,” Octavia explained sitting in the proffered chair.

Anya laughed.

“I didn’t find out he hadn’t told you guys about us until after Christmas,” Octavia started.  “We even broke up over it.  But he’s cute and sweet, you know.”

“We know,” Clarke agreed.  “No one stays mad at Lincoln”

“Except for Lexa,” Anya added.

Lexa stood up and wandered off down the hall.  Clarke’s eyes followed her but she didn’t get up.  “She got mad at him when he applied to Annapolis.  She’s still hasn’t forgiven him,” Clarke explained.  “He left her to go do something that could get him killed.”

“Lexa’s has issues with the Navy,” Anya added.

Lexa returned with an ACE bandage wrapped part of the way around her hand.  “My mother was in the Navy Reserves, she died in a car accident on the way home from drill.  My uncle, Linc’s father, was in the Navy, he died on the job,” Lexa intoned.  “For me, the Navy has a sixty-six percent fatality rate.  I know it’s not accurate, I know it’s not rational.  I don’t need anyone to explain that to me.”   Lexa had had this argument with everyone in her family at least once since Linc applied to the Naval Academy.

“It’s down to fifty percent, now,” Octavia said boldly.

Lexa cocked her head and examined the girl.  Octavia may have been the first person to hear Lexa’s explanation without trying to argue why it was wrong or overdramatic.  She nodded at the little brunette, thinking it over.  She went back to the sofa and sought Clarke’s assistance to wrap up her hand.

“ _I’m_ the medical doctor!” Anya huffed.

“Your bedside manner sucks,” Lexa teased while her fiancée wrapped up her hand and secured it with a pair of clips.  “And Clarke’s prettier.”

“I’m hungry, Anya never has food,” Clarke kissed Lexa’s freshly wrapped hand.

“I’m never here,” Anya defended.

“It’s still early and I haven’t had a po' boy in four months,” Lexa suggested.

“They’re almost edible at the deli on the street,” Anya said.  “We’d be better off going down to Mother’s, though.”

“Mmmmmmmm, Mother’s,” Clarke salivated.

“Is she okay?” Octavia questioned.  

“My girl loves to eat,” Lexa kissed Clarke’s cheek.  “It’s early on a weeknight, we should be able to park,”  Lexa got up and fished her keys out of Clarke’s bag.  “Octavia, would you care to join us for a local delicacy?”

“Sure, Lincoln can worry a while longer,” Octavia smiled.

“That’s the way, keep him on his toes,” Anya grinned.

\------

It took a week for Lincoln to grow a pair and go see Lexa.

She was in Jake’s office having commandeered his desk to work on a proposal for work on her laptop.  Jake and Clarke were over shooting pool with Gus, Abby was at the hospital, so she was alone in the Griffin house.

“Hey,” Lincoln knocked on the door frame.

Lexa looked up, saw who it was and looked back down at her laptop, continuing to type.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you who I was seeing,” he said.

Lexa typed on.

“I am a total shithead,” he said coming in and sitting on the leather loveseat.

“Go on,” she finally acknowledged him.

“It was… I didn’t want you to think I betrayed you,” the guilt in his eyes was heartbreaking.

“Why would I think that?”  Lexa looked at him.

“Because I’m dating the enemy,” Lincoln sighed.

“Octavia isn’t the enemy.  Her brother is a dick, she’s just a girl,” Lexa shrugged.  “I might have been upset by the memories but you didn’t even give me a heads up.  You just dumped this bomb on me.  That was a total dick move.”

“You’re already always pissed off at me,” Linc defended.  “What else was I supposed to think?”

“You were supposed to remember that day on the football field and at the very least warn me!”  Lexa shouted.  “You were supposed to not _lie_ to us for a year!  You were supposed to be my brother.”

“I’m still your brother, Lex.”

“You went away, Linc.  You went away and you stopped talking to me and started lying to me,” Lexa said sadly.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Linc looked defeated.  “I don’t know how to fix this.”

“You can’t fix it, you just had to keep being you.”

“And I didn’t.”

“And you didn’t,” Lexa agreed.

They sat silently for a long moment.  Always so much alike, when they butted heads it was explosive and blew over quickly as long as they fought it out.  Instead of fighting this time they let it build and fester until they didn’t even know how to talk anymore.

“Tell me all about Greece,” he finally said.

Lexa launched into the tale starting with the insane flight where they had to run across Newark at top speed to catch their flight to Zurich and how half of the flight from Zurich to Athens was students in their program and they all over did it a little with the tiny bottles of liquor and couldn’t find baggage claim.  She ended the tale with Clarke, drunk on ouzo lying on the prow of the rented boat in the Mediterranean carrying on a very deep conversation with constellations.  Lincoln laughed in all the right places, asked all the right questions, and everything was on it's way back to normal.

They were both sitting on the couch in the den drinking Jake’s beer and laughing about Linc’s Academy stories when Jake found them.  “Neither of you are even twenty, yet.  What are you doing in my beer?”

“I just spent four months where the legal drinking age is ‘able to see over the bar’,” Lexa joked.

“I could be sent to die for my country at any time,” Linc said faux solemnly.

“You’re buying me more beer,” Jake said taking the one Lexa had just opened and sitting in his chair.  Lexa went to the kitchen to get another beer and the three of them started playing Call of Duty.  Some time later Clarke and Octavia wandered in, Clarke sat on Lexa’s lap and Octavia sat politely next to Lincoln.  They laughed and joked and told embarrassing stories about Linc until Abby got home from the hospital and informed them it was three in the morning.

\------

The rest of the Delinquents took a liking to Octavia as well.  She didn’t indulge in any Skaikru, more concerned about random piss tests at the Academy than the legalities.  Murphy and Wells were still maintaining the supply while Monty was in school.  Even Luna couldn’t find fault with Linc’s new girlfriend.

\------

Fall semester arrived again and everyone scattered back where they belonged.  Clarke and Lexa moved back into the dorms and returned to twice daily sex because summer breaks at home are ‘too dry’ for Clarke.  Linc and Octavia returned to Annapolis and lived the life of Naval Cadets.  Monty and Miller returned to Rice and tried to pretend that Houston wasn’t awful.  Jasper went back to Oxford and finally met his sorority girl.  Luna went back to Austin and enjoyed the single college girl life.  Harper and Zoe go back to Memphis and the good barbecue.

Everyone is back again for Christmas break, including Octavia.  

“Not that we aren’t glad to have you,” Clarke began, “but what does your family think of you spending both summer and winter break here?”

“Nothing,” Octavia replied.  “Mom died a few weeks into my first semester at the Academy, drunk driver.  My Dad’s been dead since I was twelve.  No grandparents to speak of.  It’s just Bell out there and I don’t want to see him.”

Clarke hugged the younger girl, “This will be home now.”

\------

**May 9, 2014**

Spring arrived and passed by in a flurry of studying and snuggling.  As the end of the semester approaches one Friday evening Lexa slams the dorm door open.

“Holy shit, Lex!  You scared the hell out of me!”  Clarke jumped.

“Arkansas got marriage equality!”

“What?!  No fucking way!”

“Look, it’s all over the internet!”  Lexa squealed.  “A state judge dropped the ruling at 5pm, refused to issue a stay and went home for the weekend.”

“That’s one badass judge,” Clarke admired.  “I want to be him when I grow up.”

“You want to drive up to El Dorado and get hitched on Monday?  We can visit Raven in Ruston.”

Clarke thought hard about it before standing up and wrapping her arms around her incredible fiancee.  “I’ve wanted to marry you since I was eight, but I’d rather wait until we can get married at home.  It won’t be long now, there are at least six cases on the circuit working their way up to the Supreme Court.”

Lexa kissed her softly, “We’ll wait a little longer.”

“Just a little longer,” Clarke whispered between kisses.

\------

Summer was low on Delinquents, Jasper brought his girlfriend, Maya, home.  Lincoln and Octavia were in residence.  Most everyone else had an internship near their schools.  They rolled into their Senior year of college, all on track to graduate in the spring.

\-----

Just before Thanksgiving, Clarke and Lexa got letters they had been waiting for since the spring.  Clarke received the Rhodes Scholarship, Lexa got the Marshall Scholarship they were going to the University of Oxford after graduating from Tulane.  They waited to make the announcement until Thanksgiving dinner, they called and put Linc on speaker for the announcement.

\------

Christmas break was wild, everyone tried to make up for not getting home over the summer.  There was a great deal of celebration of Clarke and Lexa’s academic achievements.  No one mentioned that this would probably be the last Christmas they all celebrated together.

\------

**May 2015**

Clarke and Lexa graduated Tulane summa cum laude.  At every opportunity Anya said, “Yeah she does,” under her breath.  Anya’s residency had ended and she received her license and an attending position at Tulane in cardio.

Clarke and Lexa packed up their dorm room for the last time.  They started sorting what went to England for two or three years and what stayed in New Orleans.  They would have to ship most of what they took and would rather not have to keep up with more than necessary in whatever little flat they move into.

Clarke is going work up to her Magister Juris.  Lexa will study Comparative Government.

They decided to only intern part time this year to have more free time with their families.

They flew out with the rest of their family to Annapolis for Ensign Woods' graduation and commission ceremony.  Linc had been assigned to Yokosuka, Japan for the next three years.

Octavia was very proud, but would have to get used to long distance.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one maybe two chapters left. Possibly three, I like round numbers.


	28. June 2015 - May 2018

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting a lot of disappointment that we're getting close to the end. Sorry, not sorry, I hate when a story just keeps going on so long that trying to read it is like a chore. I may write the occasional one shot when the urge strikes, but this one will get a full wrap up. I've got other Clexa stories to get out in different AUs.

**June 26, 2015**

Clarke and Lexa sit in front of the television in the Griffin’s den.  They are waiting for the decision on _Obergefell v. Hodges._  

_“We have it right from the bench, there is a right to marriage equality…”_

They held each other and cried happy tears.  The next two days were a roller coaster as Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was, as ever, a complete shit head.  

On Monday, Clarke got a phone call from a friend at the ACLU that Jefferson Parish was issuing licenses.

“We’re going to be abroad for a couple of years, my love.  I think it’s in our best interest to have all of our paperwork in order,” Clarke said.

“Can we just sneak off, you and I?  I don’t want to disappoint everyone with a courthouse wedding.  Abby and Mom have been planning the gala event of the season for ten years,” Lexa asked.  “We don’t have the time to have a big wedding now, I just want to be married to you as soon as possible.”

“We can set them a date for after we get back, they’ll get their big wedding. We’ll wait to tell them we’ve already been married for three years before they try to apply for the license,” Clarke planned.  

On the way to the clerk’s office, Clarke got another call that a judge was waiving the 72 hour waiting period.  It was meant to be.

****

They were standing in a courtroom in front of a judge in black robes.  One of Clarke’s friends from the ACLU and another of his friends from the courthouse were hanging around acting as witnesses.

The judge was managing to be both somber and celebratory at the same time.  “Would you please face each other and join hands,” he said.  They did and just smiled at each other like the fools in love that they were.  “Alexandra, do you take Clarke to be your wife?  Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only to her forevermore?”

“I do,” Lexa smiled with happy tears rolling down her cheeks.

The Judge turned to the blonde, “Clarke, do you take Alexandra to be your wife?  Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only to her forevermore?”

“I do,” Clarke smiled, tears matching Lexa’s.

“By the power vested in me by the State of Louisiana, I pronounce you married,” the Judge grinned.  

“Do I get to kiss the bride now?”  Lexa giggled.

“Be my guest,” he grinned and signed the license.

“Oh my God, we’re married!”  Clarke shouted and jumped on Lexa wrapping her legs around the brunette’s waist and kissing her deeply.

“You’re still the best thing that ever happened to me,” Lexa whispered when their lips separated.

“Our really long engagement finally comes to an end,” Clarke grins.  “Let’s go home and consummate this before we go pick out rings.”

They dropped off the waiver and license with the clerk, receiving a final document moments later.

****

The house was empty when they got there.  Without thinking Clarke dropped the license on the dining room table with her keys and ran up the stairs after her bride.

Lexa was mostly naked when Clarke closed and locked their door.  Lexa pushed her back against the door and kissed her deeply, unbuttoning Clarke’s slacks and slipping a hand into her underwear.  

Clarke caught her wrist and pulled it back out.  “Uh uh, a little romance first, please.”

Lexa smirked.

“You know how wet that smirk makes me,” Clarke tipped her head back so Lexa could kiss her neck.

Lexa hummed and licked her neck while reaching for the hem of Clarke’s blouse.  They had gotten married in summer office wear, Lexa had already shed her button down and slacks, she was eager to get Clarke at least as naked as she was.  She peeled the blonde’s blouse over her head and kissed down her chest, hands slipping around her back to unhook her bra, peeling it down and exposing Clarke’s phenomenal breasts.  She surged in to lick, kiss, and suck the blonde’s sensitive nipples while pushing the slacks off of her hips.

Clarke panted and pushed Lexa toward the bed.  Lexa tugged Clarke with her, the blonde tripped into her but Lexa kept her from falling.  Their lips met again while hands slipped across exposed skin.  Clarke reached back and unhooked Lexa’s bra.  She peeled it off on the brunette and admired those perfect breasts before she needed to squeeze and taste them.  She acted on her impulse and licked and sucked one while she thumbed the other.  She caught the waistband of Lexa’s boxer briefs and knelt as she pulled them down.   _Her_ Lexa, her _wife_ , bared before her.  She turned her eyes up to the big green eyes above her and smiled before she wrapped her lips around the head of Lexa’s throbbing member.

Lexa resisted closing her eyes or rolling her neck so that she can keep eye contact with Clarke as the blonde licked and sucked her cock.  Clarke is soft and gentle and brings Lexa to orgasm embarrassingly fast, swallowing with Lexa’s dick still in her mouth before licking her clean.  

Lexa lifts Clarke to her feet and kisses her softly before spinning her around and pushing her onto the bed.  Clarke giggles as she bounces.  Lexa peels down the blonde’s underwear and doesn’t waste a second in her rush to taste her wife.   _Her wife_.  Lexa’s tongue slides the length of Clarke’s slit.  “My wife,” she purrs before tonguing the blonde’s clit.

“Your wife,” Clarke moans as Lexa slips her tongue inside of the blonde.  Lexa slowly and tenderly licks her bride to orgasm.  Lexa cleans her up with her tongue before they slide up on the bed properly.  They kiss, and touch, and feel until both are ready for the next round.  Clarke releases a high sigh when Lexa pushes her hard cock into the blonde.

“My wife,” Lexa moans as she rocks in and out of the blonde.

“Your wife,” Clarke agrees breathily as she rises up to meet Lexa’s thrusts.

They’re perfectly in tune with each others bodies.  Crashing into each other at a steadily increasing pace until they are losing control and Clarke clamps down around Lexa’s dick while the brunette comes inside of her.  Clarke flutters and clamps three more times while Lexa manages to maintain and erection and come three more times as well.  

Lexa collapsed onto the blonde, exhausted.  Clarke is panting, her hair damp with sweat.  They lay like that, Lexa going soft still inside of Clarke, pressed together until their heart rates and breathing returned to normal.

“We consummated the hell out of this marriage,” Lexa chuckled.  Clarke giggled and kissed Lexa as the brunette pulled out.

Clarke’s phone chimes.  She ignores it and snuggles her gorgeous bride.  A few moments of gentle kissing pass before it chimes again.

Clarke reaches for the phone and sees two texts from her father.  “Oh shit,” she groans.

****

> **Rolling Stone**
> 
> Now that you’ve finished, I would like an explanation for what I found on the dining room table.
> 
> ****
> 
> I stg, Clarke, do not make me come up there!

****

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck,” Clarke stammers.  “Get dressed.”  

****

> **OxfordBoundBabe**
> 
> brt

****

“Love?”  Lexa asked worried.  Clarke passes her the phone while trying to locate her underwear.

“Oh my God!”  Lexa panics.  “I’m going out the window, it’s been a wonderful thirteen years, I will miss you and think of you fondly.”

****

> **Rolling Stone**
> 
> Lexa’s presence is also required.

****

“Fuck!”  She curses when the message comes through.  “I think you’re right, it’s a mutant superpower.”

It is vitally important to locate one’s underwear when one is facing their father/father-in-law after being caught consummating their elopement.  It’s not going great.  Lexa rips open the dresser drawer and pulls out fresh underwear for both of them.  Clarke throws Lexa her slacks.  They dress more hurriedly than they have in years.

“I’ve broken his heart, he’ll never forgive me,” Clarke cried.

“He’ll always forgive you, I’m a dead women.  I’m always either drinking his beer or violating his daughter,” Lexa managed to get her shirt buttoned properly on the first try.

By the time they made it downstairs, Clarke was a teary mess and Lexa was ready to call for last rites.  She wasn’t even catholic, nearly a decade in New Orleans may have rubbed off on her.

Jake was sitting alone at the table holding the marriage certificate.

Lexa stepped forward, preparing to throw herself on her sword if it would save Clarke.

Clarke started speaking between sobs, “Daddy, I’m sorry.  We didn’t have time for the big wedding Mom and Indra want and I didn’t want you to be disappointed with a courthouse wedding but we thought it was best to make it all legal before we go live in another country on the other side of the world for three years.”

Lexa wrapped her arms around her wife and held her while she blubbered.

“When were you going to tell us?”  Jake asked.

“Four days before the wedding Mom and Indra plan,” Clarke cried.  “When they sent us to apply for the license.”  

“Surprise,” Lexa deadpanned.

Jake looked at his train wreck of a daughter.  “Sweetheart, I’m not mad, I am a little sad.”

“Sad is even worse than mad,” Clarke bawled.

“Why would you even say that, Jake?!”  Lexa scolded.  “You’re making my wife cry on our wedding day!”

Lexa’s statement gives them all pause.  

Jake stares at the marriage certificate, deep in thought.  In one swift move he places it on the table and gets up to hug his girls.  He kisses each of their heads.  “I get it,” he said.  “I should have known where you two were as soon as the news started making the rounds in the office.”

“We just wanted to make sure that if anything happened while we were there, we could take care of it,” Lexa told him.

“So, we’re calling this a marriage of _convenience_?”  Jake scoffed.

“When you say it like that we just seem like selfish assholes,” Lexa admitted.

“I said I get it, Muppet,” Jake went back to his seat at the table.  He looked at the paper again and thought.  “We’re not telling your mothers or siblings.  You _will_ set a date for soon after you get home.  You _will_ let them plan the most ridiculously extravagant wedding they can think of with a little resistance.”

“Resistance?”  Clarke asked, the redness finally starting to fade around her eyes.

“If you don’t fight them they’ll think something is up,” Jake explained.  “I will keep your secret.  I’m going to have to tell Gus though so I can collect my winnings.”

“Jesus, again?!”  Clarke rolled her eyes.

“I said you’d get married as soon as you finished your bachelor’s.  Gus said you’d wait until after grad school.”

“You can apply your winnings to the big society wedding Abby wants,” Lexa shrugged.

“You know, you’re legally my daughter now,” Jake smirked.

“Clarke, I don’t like the face he’s making,” Lexa said.  “I’m frightened.”

“Dad, stop scaring my wife,” Clarke grinned.  “My wife, my wife, my wife,” she sang as she moved in for a soft kiss.

“June twenty-ninth, twenty-eighteen,” Lexa blurted.  

Jake reached for his phone.  “That’s a Friday, better make it the thirtieth.”

“Is that good for you?”  Lexa asked her bride.

Clarke grinned, “I’ll try not to make other plans.”

“It’ll make keeping your secret easier on anniversaries,” Jake conceded.

“There, date set,” Lexa said while staring goofily at her bride.

“You two are kind of gross,” Jake reached into his wallet.  “Go get a hotel room and stay away for a couple of days until you can stop looking at each other like that.”  He held out his American Express card.  “Go, quickly, before Abby gets home.”

They checked into a boutique hotel in the Quarter and spent three days only getting out of bed to eat room service.

On Friday morning they woke early to make love before check out.  Basking in the afterglow Clarke rolled on top of her wife and made a declaration.  “As soon as we get home from England, I want to start trying to make a baby.”

“What about changing the world?”  Lexa asked.

“I want to be able to look at her and remember why I work so hard instead of spending every hour of every day in bed with you,” Clarke confessed.  They were fifteen minutes late for check out because Lexa just couldn’t resist one more round.

\------

Clarke called the next three years their ‘working honeymoon at St. Anne’s’.  They worked very hard and still managed to explore the UK to their satisfaction.  Money was tight on their stipends so Lexa tended bar at a pub a few nights a week and Clarke tutored.  Every Friday on the walk back to their flat from tutoring, Clarke bought Lexa a simple bouquet of flowers, usually daisies since they were readily available, purple lilacs or red tulips if she could get them.

The Great British Bake Off was the second best thing to happen to Clarke Griffin, Lexa will always be the best.  After falling in love with the series, Lexa took up baking.  Cookies, puddings, pastries filled with creme pat.  Clarke had to start running with Lexa every morning to work off the extra calories.  The eclairs alone were worth every mile.  Kilometer?

They had bought simple silver bands for their wedding rings and forgot to take them off before Jake, Gus, Indra, and Octavia arrived for Christmas.   Jake managed to alert them before anyone else noticed.  Thankfully the cold of winter allowed them the excuse to wear gloves to cover the tan lines.  Octavia left after three days to see Lincoln in Japan.  Abby and Anya couldn’t get away from the hospital over the holidays.  They promised to come in the spring.

****

In the spring they got an email loaded with Harper and Monroe’s wedding photos.  They replied with photos of themselves at various UK landmarks with wedding rings visible but not explicitly pointed out.  Jake had made a habit of checking pics over for rings and Photoshopping them out before showing Abby, Gus, and Indra.

Abby and Anya visited in April.   Clarke and Lexa used tea to try to darken the tan lines left by their rings.  Abby wasn’t fooled, but said nothing.  She had been getting junk mail for Mrs. & Mrs. Griffin-Woods since July, hiding it from Jake assuming he didn’t know.

****

In May, Linc took leave to go to Octavia’s graduation and commission ceremony.  He routeed his flight through Heathrow so he could visit Clarke and Lexa for a few days.  Octavia had been assigned to a ship based in Norfolk, Virginia.  He’s thinking of proposing and jokes his engagement will still be shorter that Clarke and Lexa’s.

 

**June 2016**

For their first wedding anniversary the Griffin-Woods’ spent a perfect long weekend in Paris, making love in the City of Light.  There might also have been a steady stream of chocolate croissants and a day in the Louvre.  Clarke made a vow to have sex in as many European nations as they could before returning to New Orleans.  They manage to get both Belgium (Brussels) and Spain (Barcelona) in over the summer.  Lexa has nothing but praise for Eurail passes.  They email pictures of Europe to Linc, he replies with pictures of Japan.

****

For Christmas, Jake, Gus, and Indra visited Linc in Japan. The Griffin-Woods’ celebrate their first Christmas alone.  It’s surprisingly good thanks to Lexa’s acquired cooking skills.

 

**2017**

Their second anniversary is celebrated with a week in Rome, much of the bill footed by Jake who had started to enjoy keeping their secret.  

By the time they start their third and final year at Oxford, Clarke has marked Greece (the earlier trip still counts), England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Luxembourg off of her ‘Must Do It In’ list, often shortened to the ‘Must Do’ list so their parents and friends don’t think they’re sex addicts.  

 

**2018**

In February, Clarke stopped taking her birth control pills.  They marked Denmark and Sweden off of the Must Do It list.  Clarke knew it was a very long shot, but she would like to get pregnant while they’re still in Europe.  She already had a job at the ACLU waiting for her to finish up at Oxford.  Lexa had a position waiting with a housing equity organization in NOLA.

In the final run up to the end of their courses, both are so exhausted from researching, writing papers, and finishing thesis’ that they don’t have the time to devote to baby making.  They are relegated mostly to only morning sex, Clarke’s too exhausted to whine about it.

In May, they pack up everything that’s going home with them and ship everything they won’t need for the next two weeks.  They’re giving away everything that isn’t going home with them or staying in the flat for the next students.

Abby and Indra have been emailing them wedding plans and itineraries for months.  They ‘shopped’ for wedding dresses via Skype with Abby and Indra.  Now they were just waiting for them to get home and get them fitted.

The papers are turned in, the marks are received, the bags are packed.  Three years of life married to their best friends, growing up, becoming full adults, without pushy friends, nosy siblings, and well meaning parents.  They have grown into beautiful women, Lexa is still long limbed but less awkward, she cuts a striking figure.  Her pale skin, high cheekbones, and diamond cut jaw have kept her a popular sight at the pub where she has slung ale for three years.  All of the regulars knew Clarke and enjoyed the nights she sat at the bar studying and regaling the patrons with stories of American footballer Lexa and their adventures around the Americas and Europe.  

Clarke herself is a vision, bright blue eyes, light blonde hair, and a body that just screams sin.  Her laugh is deep and throaty and comes easy, like her smile.  She always smiles when she sees Lexa after they’ve been separated for a few hours.  She smiles if they’ve only been separated long enough for Lexa to run to the shop to pick up milk.  Lexa always smiles back.  Bold lads would try to flirt with her, only to realize that she only has eyes for the lithe woman behind the bar wearing a smirk that looks like she knows something no one else knows.

One last night in the pub.  One last night making love in their tiny Oxford flat.  One last ride on the train to Paddington Station.  Then the Heathrow Express.  Mrs. & Mrs. Griffin-Woods are going home.

  
  
  


 


	29. Brides and Babes

**June 2018**

Mrs. & Mrs. Griffin-Woods have been home for three days.  Lexa is starting to miss British beer and wonders if she can import kegs of Bass for Jake and Gus’ man-cave.  While apartment hunting she checks every bar they pass for Bass on tap.  Clarke is positive that when they find it they’ll have to get a place near it no matter how small and cramped the apartment and the parking.  They spent the morning looking in the Warehouse District on the way to an appointment with Dr. Birch.

“Shouldn’t we be looking for something with a yard?”  Clarke asks.

“In the city?  We can’t afford that, Clarke?”  Lexa turns toward the hospital.

“We don’t have to live in the city, Metairie has better schools,” Clarke reasons.

“Metairie has parents, four of them.  Lurking about,” Lexa grins.  “If we make it hard to park, they won’t pop up unannounced.”

“That’s a good point, why don’t we go look for something in the Lower Garden District or Irish Channel?”

“You want to buy?  In this economy?”  Lexa pulled into the TMC parking deck.

“It’s a buyer’s market,” Clarke shrugged.

“We’ll go look around after we do this,” Lexa offered, she could deny Clarke nothing.

Clarke gave her a blinding smile.  When Lexa had parked and turned off the car Clarke pulled her in for a bruising kiss.

“Oh, love, that is not fair,” Lexa whined.

“How long do we have?”

“Not long enough, about ten minutes.”

Clarke moved in for another deep kiss and slipped a hand into Lexa’s jeans.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Lexa caught her wife’s wrist and pulled it back out.  “We’ll have to do that in there.”

“Really?”  Clarke grinned.

“I guarantee you Dr. Birch is going to want to check my counts and motility,” Lexa told her.  “She’ll probably want to check your fertility, too.  The woman is obsessed,” Lexa joked.

“It’s her job,” Clarke kissed her wife softly.  “Tonight, I’m going to the rodeo.”

Lexa groaned.  “Yeah, that’s great for my erection, thanks, Clarke.”

Clarke smirked and slipped her hand into Lexa’s jeans.  The perks of being intimately familiar with your spouse's body is that you know how to get them off quickly.  They did a quick clean up and headed in to endocrinology.

“Miss Woods!”  Dr. Birch greeted when she came into the office.  “How was England?”

“Dr. Birch!  It was brilliant.  It’s Mrs. Griffin-Woods now, though.  I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell Abby or put it in the file just yet.”

“I thought the wedding wasn’t until the end of the month?”  She held out a hand for Clarke to shake.  “It’s nice to finally meet you, Clarke.”

“We eloped before we left,” Clarke admitted.

“That’s pretty romantic,” Dr. Birch mused looking at Lexa's file.  “Looks like you want to work on getting pregnant.”

Lexa nodded.

She addressed Clarke, “Have you stopped using birth control?”

Clarke nodded, “Around Valentine’s Day.”

Dr. Birch reached for a cup and stuck a label to it, “It’s been a few years.”  She handed the cup to Lexa and pulled a syringe out of a drawer.  “Clarke, I’m going to need to get some blood to check your hormone levels.”

Lexa smirked and tried not to laugh.

“Stop it,” Clarke blushed.  Lexa snorted.

The doctor looked between them and decided it was better not to ask.  Instead she chose to stick to the clinical while tying a tourniquet onto Clarke’s arm.  “How are your sex drives?  Any problems?”

Lexa lost it, she laughed so hard she had tears coming out of her eyes.  Clarke was bright red, hiding her face behind her hand.

“Lexa?”  Dr. Birch stopped.

“There are no problems there.”  Lexa held her side, still laughing.  

The doctor looked between them again, she was pretty sure she was going to regret the next question.  “About how often do you engage in intercourse?”  She stuck Clarke with the needle and drew blood.

“On average, twice a day,” Clarke blushed.

Dr. Birch raised her eyebrows, “So, no drive problems.  No erectile dysfunction, dryness?”

Lexa howled with laughter.

“Lexa, you have never once even giggled about anything relating to your penis in the entire time I’ve known you,” the doctor observed.  “What’s so funny?”

“Clarke,” Lexa giggled.  “Clarke is hilarious.”

Clarke still beet red with her hands covering her face mumbled, “There might have been a handjob in the parking lot.”

“So, I guess you won’t have any problems getting me a sample then?”  The doctor raised an eyebrow.  “I’m going to get this started at the lab,” she held up the blood sample from Clarke.  “It will take a couple of days.  Let Sarah know when you’ve got a sample for me.”

After Lexa provided a sample, with some assistance from her wife, and informed Sarah that they were finished it took several minutes for Dr. Birch to make her way back to the exam room.

“Well, the bad news is, I won’t be finishing the blood tests on Clarke.”  The doctor said looking at her iPad.

Clarke deflated instantly.  “Why not?”

“Because you’re already pregnant,” Dr. Birch grinned.

“Really?”  The Griffin-Woods’ asked in unison.

“How is that even possible?”  Lexa asked shocked.

“I know I’ve explained how conception works, Lexa,” the doctor deadpanned.  “It’s one in a million.  Clarke, do you know when you were ovulating?”

“Um,” she did that math in her head.  “We were packing.”

“We’ve been packing for three months,” Lexa sighed.

“I was tracking it, just to get a feel since I knew this was coming,” Clarke explained.  “We had sex on the kitchen counter.”

“Oh, yeah,” Lexa smirked.  “ _That_ day.”

“My period is late,” she blinked.  “I didn’t even think about it since we’ve been so stressed with the move.”

“ _That_ day was the eleventh,” Lexa informed them.  Both her doctor and her spouse looked at her.  “I had a paper due.”

“There you go then, you’re four weeks pregnant,” Dr. Birch announced.  “You’ll need to get in to see an OB/GYN soon.  I’ll put your due date at February 8th.”

“We’re having a baby,” Lexa mused and looked at her bride.

“We’re having a baby!”  They said excitedly in unison.

“We’re definitely going to need that yard,” Lexa affirmed.

 

**Five Weeks**

The wedding was three weeks away.  They had contacted a realtor and put in an offer on a three bedroom built in 1917 with an adorable little backyard with a huge old oak tree in the Irish Channel.  Clarke resumed her practice of bringing Lexa flowers every Friday evening.  Jake pointed out how his daughter was making him look bad.  Clarke pointed out how awesome it was that Lexa makes them fresh turnovers.  Jake tried using the same argument on Abby and ended up sending two dozen roses to the hospital as an apology.

 

**Six Weeks**

The wedding was two weeks away, the offer on the house was accepted.  The Griffin-Woods’ cleared out all of their savings from three years at Oxford to make a down-payment.  As a wedding gift, their parents kicked in to make a more sizable down payment.  They hadn’t told their families they were expecting.

 

**Seven Weeks**

The wedding was one week away.  Their friends started making their way back to New Orleans from far flung locations.  Raven was in Silicon Valley building tiny robots and talking to Anya several times a week.  Monty and Nathan were in Dallas, Monty programming for a security firm and Nathan teaching middle school English.  Luna was in Paris going to culinary school, she would not be able to attend the wedding, but asked Monty to set her up a live stream.  Jasper, now a chemical engineer, was working for an oil company in Mobile trying to get on with a firm in either New Orleans or Dallas.  Harper and Zoe were the only others to find work in New Orleans so far.  Harper’s MS in Psych got her a position at the charity hospital and Zoe’s finance degree had her working for one of the larger banks.

When Murphy finally made an appearance, it was without Wells.  They had broken up shortly after the Griffin-Woods’ left for the UK.  Wells had decided it was too hard, he begged his father’s forgiveness and went to seminary in Mississippi.  Murphy hadn’t heard from him since.  He got out of the weed business after one too many close calls and was bartending in the Quarter.  He was seeing a woman named Emori, she would be his plus one at the wedding.

Lincoln and Octavia arrived from their respective duty stations on the Saturday before the wedding.  Lincoln was Lexa’s best man, Octavia was Clarke’s maid of honor.  Over the last few years they had gotten very close for people who were almost never in the same room, let alone on the same continent.

Lincoln had two more years to serve in the Navy, he was confident he would stay in Japan until it was done.  He had a lot of options with his field of study, he knew he wanted to get back to New Orleans and marry Octavia for certain.  That meant he would need to leave the Navy, he was torn between going civilian or transferring into the Coast Guard.  It was lucky for him that Octavia also wanted to settle down in New Orleans.

 

**Monday**

“Has anyone said anything to you about the license?” Lexa asked her wife as they curled up in Clarke’s childhood bed to sleep.  It had been a long night of trying the caterers finalized menu and finalizing flowers.  Particularly exhausting after a day at the office.

“Nope,” Clarke tucked her head under her wife's chin and wrapped her arms around her waist.

“Tomorrow, then, certainly,” Lexa mused.

 

**Tuesday**

“Nobody mentioned the license to me today, either,” Lexa’s said into the back of Clarke’s neck.

“Me either,” Clarke pulled her wife's arms tightly around her.  Lexa absently rubbed Clarke’s belly.

 

**Wednesday**

“I’ve learned to hate the City Director’s assistant, that guy is a total asshat,” Lexa grumbled.  She climbed on the bed and kissed her wife's belly before resting her ear against it.

“He really is,” Clarke agreed running her fingers through Lexa’s curls.  “I didn’t hear a peep about the license.  You?”

“Nope,” Lexa kissed her unborn child again and slid up to kiss her wife.  “Very irresponsible of them.”

 

**Thursday**

The Griffin’s and Woods’ have all gathered for a family dinner in the private room of their favorite Garden District restaurant.  The champagne was popped and Lexa drank for two while Clarke pretended to drink.

Four glasses of champagne in after three beers and Lexa is getting antsy.  She leaned to whisper, rather loudly into Clarke’s ear, “It’s less than forty-eight hours until the wedding and no one has mentioned the marriage license.”

Lincoln, being on Clarke’s left over heard.  “Don’t tell me you forgot the license?” He said loudly.

The entire table looked at them.

“It’s taken care of,” Clarke muttered.

“Are we all really going to continue to sit here and pretend they haven’t been married for three years?”  Indra finally asked.

“How did you know?”  Gus, Jake, and Abby shouted, then repeated the question to each other.

“I found the marriage certificate on the dining room table while they… celebrated,” Jake confessed.

“I’ve been hiding junk mail for Mrs. and Mrs. Griffin-Woods for three years,” Abby admitted.

“I saw them listed in the paper under the licenses filed column,” Gus told them.

Everyone looked at Indra, “It’s what I would have done.”

“And none of you told me?!”  Anya burst out.

“Sorry, Ahn,” Abby said.

“We have lunch every day, Abby!  This is the kind of gossip you share!”  Anya wasn’t angry, more impressed that everyone kept a secret for so long.

Lincoln side-eyed Clarke and Lexa.  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”

Octavia elbowed her fiance, “How did you not notice they’ve been wearing wedding rings in photos for three years?”

“Really?”  He asked her.  Octavia pulled out her phone and opened up a picture of them toasting the camera with Sangria in Barcelona, wedding ring obvious on Lexa’s raised hand.

“Now, is anybody going to mention that Lexa has been quietly drinking Clarke’s champagne all night?”  Octavia asked.

All of the parents suddenly focused their attention on the blonde.

“Clarke,” Abby said.

“Hmmm,” Clarke hummed looking at Lexa’s fingers while she fidgeted with them.  Lexa stared at the light fixtures on the ceiling.

“I’m gonna be a Grandpa!”  Jake whooped and jumped out of his seat.

 

**Friday**

The Griffin-Woods’ put Octavia in charge of stopping any and all bachlorette party activity.  The younger Blake prevented one kidnapping attempt by Raven and ran Jasper, Monty, and Murphy off when they arrived in the front yard demanding Clarke and Lexa join them for a few dozen drinks.

Lexa and Clarke had worked all week and attended to pre-wedding business every evening, they’ve been married for three years, exactly, a stag night was pretty low on their priorities.  Making love and a good nights sleep were top priorities.  They had each brought the other a dozen roses, Lexa presented Clarke’s in a crystal vase.  Clarke presented Lexa’s along with a new leather satchel.

 

**Saturday**

The morning begins with Abby waking them for breakfast with a knock on the door.  Lexa stretches and tries to get out of bed before Clarke tugs her back.

“Clarke, your mother is right outside,” Lexa whined.

“Of all the days I need morning sex to relieve stress, today it’s most important,” Clarke kissed at Lexa’s neck.

“Clarke,” Lexa moaned.  “They’ll hear.”

“I’ll be quiet,” Clarke promised.

Even quiet, everyone downstairs waiting on them knew what was happening upstairs by the squeak of the bed.

****

Hours later Clarke and Lexa were sequestered into separate, thankfully air conditioned, tents at the New Orleans Botanical Gardens.  No amount of arguing would get Abby and Indra to relent and let them finish getting ready together.  

“We’ve been married for three years, superstition doesn’t apply, Mom,” Clarke argued.

“It’s not superstition, Clarke,” Abby sighed.  “If we leave you alone together in a room clothes fall off, we need them to be going _on_ at this point.”

****

The band began to play the wedding march.  Gus opened Lexa’s tent flap, Jake opened Clarke’s.  The fathers escorted the brides toward each other across the garden, grinning like idiots at the sight of the other in their off white wedding dresses.  Jake and Gus angled them for the turn as rehearsed so that they could walk down the aisle together and still be walked down the aisle by their fathers.  Their fathers stopped in front of the minister and hugged and kissed their baby girls.  It took a little longer than originally planned as Gus needed to hug and kiss his Little Lion’s cheek and Jake needed to hug and kiss his Muppet’s cheek.

The fathers moved to their seats on either side of the aisle and waited for the minister to tell them to sit down.  The brides turned to face each other and mentally checked out of the wedding.  They grinned at each other while Clarke fidgeted with Lexa’s fingers.  They didn’t hear a word the minister said until he addressed Lexa.

“Alexandra, your vows,” the minister encouraged.

Lexa smiled at him and then looked back to her bride.  “My dearest, Clarke,” Lexa began.  She had been writing these vows for three years.  She released a shaky breath and tried not to let fat tears slide down her cheeks.  “My world changed forever the day I met you, like I was seeing color for the first time.  I am the luckiest woman in the world to have your love and I will spend the rest of my days making you feel as loved, safe, and adored as you have always made me feel.”

It was all Clarke could do not to put a hand on Lexa’s cheek and pull her in for a kiss before wiping away her tears.  Lexa was fighting the same battle with the urge to kiss away Clarke’s tears.  The pair of them so absorbed in each other they didn’t notice their parents wiping away their own tears.

“Clarke,” the minister brought them back to the moment.  “Your vows.”

Clarke took a shaky breath, “I shouldn’t have let you go first,” she chuckled wetly as did much of their audience.  Lexa released Clarke’s right hand and touched her cheek.  Clarke got ahold of herself and took a less shaky breath.  Once Lexa was sure Clarke was going to be able to continue she took the blonde’s right hand again.

“My darling, Lexa,” she began.  “You are my dream, my companion, my best friend, and my love.  I’ve been in love with you since we were stardust together.  I’ll be in love with you until we are stardust again.”

They got lost in each other’s eyes again and heard nothing until the minister said, “You may kiss the bride.”  They met in the middle, wiping each others tears away and kissing softly.  “I love you, so much,” Clarke whispered.  “You’re my everything,” Lexa replied softly.

 

**Nine Weeks**

They closed on the Irish Channel house two weeks after the wedding, they moved in slowly over the next few months.  The first item of furniture at their residence was a king sized bed.  Clarke sat and passed the bar exam.  One evening, Clarke arrived with a delivery truck and a living room suit was brought in.  Their kitchen was pretty well outfitted from the wedding, but they had been eating meals at the counter on mismatched bar stools.  

A week passed before Lexa arrived at home with a dining room table and chairs.  Three months would pass before Clarke saw the perfect sideboard and brought it home.

 

**Eighteen Weeks**

The day of the first ultrasound, Lexa was a nervous wreck.  Their OB/GYN was a good friend of Abby and Anya and quite a good OB to boot.  She was bright, energetic, and funny, Clarke liked her, which was good since she had to be particularly close to the doctor.  

Dr. Bayles squirted the warmed gel on Clarke’s barely showing belly.  “Let’s take a look, shall we?”

Lexa clutched Clarke’s hand.  Though she would never admit it, her biggest fear was having somehow passed on her condition.  Intellectually, Lexa knew it wasn’t possible.  Her condition was due to exposure to a high dose of testosterone around six weeks of gestation.  But fears are fears and are rarely rational.

And there she was.  She was perfect, two arms, two legs, two eyes, five fingers on one hand spread across a tiny cheek.  The Griffin-Woods’ teared up at the sight of her.

“Hello my beautiful girl,” Lexa said into Clarke’s belly.  They watched as the baby shifted closer to the sound of Lexa’s voice.  “I can’t wait to meet you, either.”

“Well she’s my girl,” Clarke sniffed.  “I always want to be by you, too.”

Lexa squeezed her hand and kissed her forehead.

****

They had intended to slip out of the office quietly.  Alas, Abby, Anya, Jake, Gus, and Indra were sitting in the waiting room when they came out.  Anya snatched the print out and ran it over to the grandparents to be.

“Remember when they loved _us_?”  Clarke asked her wife.  Lexa nodded.

 

**Twenty-Two Weeks**

Clarke’s birthday is less than three weeks away.  She is showing quite a bit and the other attorneys at the office have taken to rubbing her belly for luck before going into a courtroom.  Most days, Clarke thinks it’s funny.  It had been a rough week.  They lost an appeal on the Fifth Circuit.  It was an LGBTQ case and particularly close to Clarke’s heart.  Sometimes living in Louisiana was awful.  She had left the office early, unable to deal with her hormones on such an awful day.  She went home to their perfect little house and smiled that this was the home she shared with Lexa.  She went into their bedroom, stripped off her ‘Pregnant Attorney Dress’, Lexa had created genres for Clarke’s maternity clothes.  Most of the time they made her smile.  Today, she flung the dress across the room and curled up on the bed in only her bra, already a full cup size larger, and cotton panties.

She heard Lexa come in sometime later.  Her wife made her way to the bedroom carrying a bouquet of pink and red carnations.  “Hello, love,” Lexa kissed the cheek not pressed into the pillow. “I heard.”  She put the flowers into the vase she had carried in from the kitchen.

“Hold me,” Clarke whispered.  Lexa climbed into the bed behind her beautiful wife.  She kissed her naked shoulder softly while gently stroking her stomach.  Both mothers felt baby girl Griffin-Woods shift into a position under Lexa’s hand.  

Several minutes passed before Clarke sniffed.

“It’s only a setback, my love,” Lexa whispered.  “You’ll win in the end.”

“It’s not that,” Clarke cried.  “I’m a fat cliche!”

“Oh my beautiful wife, you are not fat, you look incredible.  In fact, you might be the most beautiful I have ever seen you,” Lexa soothed.  “And I’ve never known you to be cliche about anything.”

“I want pickles and Neapolitan ice cream,” Clarke sobbed.

Lexa chuckled and kissed her wife’s shoulder.  “You might be a little cliche.”  Lexa made to climb out of the bed.

Clarke rolled over and held her tight, “Where are you going?”

“Down to the corner store, we don’t have any ice cream,” Lexa kissed her nose.

“Stay with me,” Clarke snuggled into Lexa.

“What about the ice cream?”

“It’ll pass, I always want you more than anything else,” Clarke kissed Lexa’s neck.  It took all of five more minutes before they were both naked and making love.

 

**Thirty-One Weeks**

In December, with the infant Griffin-Woods due on February 8th, they went together to pick out baby furniture.  The room had long since been painted a soft seafoam green, Clarke sat in the padded rocker and read directions while Lexa sat in the floor and put the crib and changing table together.

Clarke was incredibly pregnant with their daughter, she was also incredibly horny.  Even more horny than she was without being pregnant.  Due to the prohibitive size of Clarke’s belly and Lexa’s fear of hurting her, Clarke spent a large portion of their spare time riding Lexa like a pony.

 

**Thirty-Nine Weeks - February 6th, 2019**

Clarke has not gone on maternity leave, she has been healthy and active and is in her shared office researching a precedent when she gets the first twinge of labor.  She checks her watch, it’s 3:07 PM.  She waits for the next twinge before she sends a text to Lexa.

 

**3:49 PM**

Lexa parks her Rav4 in the lot nearest to Clarke’s office and runs inside.

“How far apart?”  She pants entering the office Clarke shares with another young attorney.  A beleaguered looking guy who is allowing Clarke to crush his hand.

“Seventeen minutes,” Clarke tells her.  “Chuck would like me to leave now so I don’t break his hand.”  Chuck nods with a pained expression.

“We’re going.  I texted Anya,” Lexa offered her very pregnant wife a hand and helped her out of her seat.

 

**4:04 PM**

Lexa pulls into the TMC parking deck and finds a spot near the elevator.  She texts Anya what level they are on.

Before she manages to get Clarke out of the car another contraction strikes.  Lexa holds her hand and whispers soothing words of love.  Anya appears by the rear bumper with a wheelchair, Clarke tries to wave it off but Anya gives her a withering look and Clarke sits and allows herself to be pushed to Labor and Delivery.

Abby is waiting for them in Clarke’s room, she’s on the phone, “They’re here, Linc,” Abby said into the phone.  “Lincoln sends his love,” Abby tells them.

“Dr. Jones, no time for love,” Clarke quotes.

“She’s fine, she’s quoting Indiana Jones movies at me,” Abby tells Linc.  “We’ll keep you posted.”

 

**5:59 PM**

Clarke’s contractions are seven minutes apart, she is only dilated to eight.  Lexa is standing at the head of the bed holding her wife’s hand and kissing it gently.

Gus and Jake are sitting in the window swapping stories of being in labor and delivery awaiting the birth of their daughters.

“Anya wailed so loudly, the nurses thought she was in pain,” Gus chuckled.  “She’s always been quick to voice her displeasure.”

Lexa whispers into Clarke’s ear and while no one can hear what she says, Clarke is calm and looks at Lexa like she hung the moon.

 

**7:22 PM**

It’s time.

Dr. Bayles has run everyone but Abby and Lexa out of the room.  Clarke has come to a moment of distress because she wants Lexa by her head, but she doesn’t want Abby below her waist.

“Love, I am right here with you,” Lexa soothes into her ear.

“Stay,” Clarke pants.  She groans loudly, “I need to push!”

Dr. Bayles in in position, “Go ahead, Clarke.”

 

**7:36 PM**

She’s out.  Lexa is tearing apart.  She wants to see her baby girl and she wants to stay with her wife.

“Look, please,” Clarke pants.  Lexa releases Clarke and moves next to the doctor who hands her a pair of scissors.  Lexa cuts the cord and watches as Dr. Bayles swipes out her perfect daughters mouth and sees her take her first breath.  Followed immediately by a wail.

“She’s perfect, Clarke,” Lexa melts.  “She looks like you.”

Dr. Bayles stands and hands the still wet and bloody baby girl to Lexa who moons over her and shows her to Clarke.  A nurse comes over just at Clarke finishes counting fingers and toes and takes her off to clean her up and weigh and measure the tiny girl.  Blue meets Green and they sink into each other until the nurse returns with their newborn daughter and hands her to Clarke.

“She’s beautiful, Lex,” Clarke sighs.  The infant’s fine hair is drier now and is a medium brown with licks and twists.  “She’s got your hair.”

“Look at that little superhero chin, though,” Lexa cooed.

“You both do fine work,” Abby smiled at her granddaughter.

“Clarke, we need to get you finished up,” Dr. Bayles said.

Abby took the baby out to see Jake, Gus, Indra, and Anya.  Lexa stayed by Clarke’s side, her wife needed her more now.

 

**10:47 PM**

Baby Girl Griffin-Woods was waking up in her bassinet.  She was making sucking motions and Lexa knew she was hungry.  She lifted the infant and held her close until she chuffed looking for a snack.  Clarke’s eyes opened slowly at the sound of the chuff.

“Hey beautiful,” Lexa smiled.  “She’s ready to eat again.”

Clarke smiled sleepily and held out her arms for the baby.  In a room alone with just her wife and child, Clarke didn’t bother with modesty and exposed her breast for her daughter.  Lexa watched her baby girl latch on with awe.

“We made that,” she sighed happily.

“We did,” Clarke smiled.  “I’ve been thinking about names.”

Lexa watched her daughter receive sustenance from her mother, marveling at the miracle of life.  “Hmmm,” she acknowledged Clarke’s statement.

“I know we had a list, but what do you think about Roma Abigail?”

Lexa tore her eyes away from her little miracle and met Clarke’s.  “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“I think Romy is perfect,” Lexa smiled.

 

 


	30. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gonna tie up a few loose ends and call it complete.

**Epilogue**

**September 4, 2021**

Two and a half year olds with big bright blue eyes and wild chestnut curls make the cutest flower girls.  Clarke and Lexa already thought so, but they could have been biased.  The collective “Awww” from the people in attendance at Lincoln and Octavia's wedding erased any thoughts of bias and confirmed for them that Romy was, in fact, the cutest little girl in all of New Orleans, probably all of Louisiana, possibly the whole world.  She smiled and giggled her way down the aisle to where Lexa was waiting for her.  Every few steps she would remember the flower petals and toss a handful out.  When little Romy made it to Lexa she tossed the basket off to the side and jumped at her Momma, flinging her little arms around her neck.  Indulgent Uncle Lincoln accepted a sloppy kiss before Lexa carried her over to Indra and Anya and returned to her position at Lincoln’s side.  Clarke was standing on the other side of the aisle, in a lavender gown, waiting for Octavia.

Lincoln and Lexa were in black tuxedos with tails and purple waistcoats and cravats.  Personally, Clarke thought Lexa looked way hotter than Lincoln.  He bore little resemblance to the skinny boy Clarke first met over the holidays twenty years before.    Lincoln left the Navy after his required five years and went to work for the State protecting the coast line.  Octavia switched branches when her commitment was up earlier in the year and worked search and rescue for the Coast Guard.

When the wedding march began to play the doors swung open to reveal Octavia in a long silver gown.  Her lack of parents led Octavia to ask Gus to walk her down the aisle.  Octavia looked small on a normal day, next to Gus she looked tiny.  Gus beamed in his black tux and silver waistcoat and cravat.  

****

The ceremony was beautiful and mercifully short, Romy got the giggles half way through the vows and all of Anya’s attempts to quiet her just resulted in more giggles.  After the ceremony everyone moved over to the reception area.  The wedding and reception were held at a beautiful Garden District  mansion with an open bar.  After the toasts were done Abby and Jake took Romy home with them so the Griffin-Woods’ could have a few glasses of champagne and dance awhile.

Clarke and Lexa were dancing cheek to cheek whispering rather suggestive things that they should do to each other when they got home when a scuffle broke out near the bar.  It didn’t last long, a full half of the guests were in Naval Officers, there were a lot of Coasties, too and Lexa was positive the Coasties were more dangerous than the Sailors.  Lexa still felt obligated to see what was going on.  Clarke held onto her hand and followed after.

In any other setting, Lexa would probably have never recognized a drunk and belligerent Bellamy Blake.  “I have every right to be here, _I’m_ her family!”  He took a swing at a Naval Officer in dress whites.  Lexa couldn’t recall his name, but she thought he was Lincoln’s roommate at the Academy.

Lexa pushed through trying to think of a way to diffuse the situation.

“Holy shit,” Clarke blurted.  “Is that Ocatvia’s brother?”

“You’re goddamn right I am!”  He shouted in the vague direction of Clarke.  His eyes fell on Lexa.  “Look at that, Lexa goddamn Woods!  How’s the dick?”

He saw it coming and was too drunk to duck, Bellamy Blake fell like a stone when Lexa’s fist connected with the side of his head.  Lexa had a couple of the guys carry him outside and wait with him until NOLA PD could pick him up.

****

The next morning, Octavia stopped by the station before leaving for her honeymoon.  Bellamy had gotten a dishonorable discharge and had spent three years at Fort Leavenworth.  He wouldn’t tell Octavia why.  Octavia felt sorry for him, but she was tired of apologizing for him.  She refused to bail him out unless he got help and he screamed obscenities at her until she left.  It would take three more years and a conviction for possession with intent to sell before he got clean and sought treatment.

****

The week after Lincoln and Octavia returned from their honeymoon, Clarke and Lexa called a family meeting.  Everyone gathered in the private room of their favorite Garden District restaurant on a Thursday night.

****

“Who’s pregnant?”  Gus asked loudly.

“That would be me,” Clarke raised her hand and waited for everyone to settle down.  “We have been trying for another one for awhile and finally managed to get a fertilized egg to take.  We found out the day before the wedding, but didn’t want to steal the spotlight.”

“I appreciate that,” Octavia smiled.  “Congrats!”  

Jake threw an arm around his daughter.  “More grandbabies!”

“More grandbabies!”  Gus agreed.

Romy was sitting in Abby’s lap giggling.  “What do you think about a baby sister?”  Abby asked her.

“Baby sister,”  Romy nodded excitedly.

Tris Alexandra Griffin-Woods arrived thirty weeks later on April 16th, a little early but otherwise perfect.  She had Clarke’s blonde hair and Lexa’s big green eyes.  She arrived exactly two weeks ahead of John Emory Murphy, they called him Jack.  Gus decided it was about time for him to retire from the Corps of Engineers and become a full time Grandpa.  He opened a consulting firm out of his man cave and spent the bulk of his days chasing after his granddaughters and Jack Murphy.

The Griffin-Woods’ upgraded to a larger house in the Garden District with a bigger yard and a fourth bedroom.  It needed a little work, but Gus needed projects so it worked out.  Jake helped him with much of the structural work, every time he walked into a room that his daughter and daughter-in-law might be in he called ahead, “Clarke, get off Lexa!”  His accuracy rating was still pretty high.

****

**December 2022**

Lincoln and Octavia welcomed fraternal twins, Nyko (for Lincoln’s father) and Aurora (for Octavia’s mother).  Romy and little Tris were enthralled with their infant cousins.

Gus tried to convince Jake to retire and join his Grandpa’s Day Care/Consulting Firm.  Jake declined, he loved his granddaughters, they were the first and second most awesome thing ever done with his genetic code, Clarke had fallen to third (“You’re still the best thing that ever came out of me,” Jake tells her.  “Still gross, Dad,” Clarke always replies.).  But the infant Woods twins were more than he had the stamina for.

****

**May 2024**

Raven Reyes finally came home.  After nearly a decade in Silicon Valley she finally found a project worthy of her time and skill, Anya Woods.  She and Anya had been discussing nano-tech and cardiovascular repair for a few years.  They finally worked up a plan and applied for the grant money to start a research program.  They would go on to change the way cardiovascular surgeries were done and file several patents.  

They also shacked up and refused to get married.  They bought a house together, did all of the legal paperwork, and entangled their lives, but an actual marriage certificate was out of the question.  While children of their own were also out of the question, both were a little too in love with being able to go off on adventures at a moment's notice to give it up for tiny humans in need of routine, Romy, Tris, Nyko, and Aurora were spoiled rotten by their aunts.

****

**July 2024**

Lexa Griffin-Woods had been battling a system that marginalized the poor, minorities, and disadvantaged since she got home from Oxford.  Much of her time was spent working with the homeless, searching for solutions to a problem that had vets and children living on the streets.  She had already submitted legislation more times that she could count, she lobbied for better mental health care and once publicly demanded that the Governor get off his pompous ass and serve his damn constituents.

In the sweltering heat, on a day when the humidity was so thick that it would have been easier for fish to breathe on land than mammals, Lexa was out looking for a homeless mother that she had been trying to place for nearly a year, she had missed an appointment that morning, it was completely unlike Shay to not show up.

In her search, she found a group of kids, most of them under sixteen, all of them identifying as LGBTQIA in one way or another, all had been either kicked out of their homes, or fled abusive homes.  She ordered them a couple of pizzas and got them to talk to her, in the months to come, she would refer to them as The Runaways, a reference to a team of underage mutants in the Marvel universe.  Lexa found her purpose.  She left the kids with a lot on her mind.  

An hour later, she found the woman she was looking for in one of the camps in the woods near the old abandoned Jazzland park.  Lexa knew where all of the bigger camps were and had paid a visit  to most of them at one time or another.  Most of the other residents of the camp either knew Lexa Griffin-Woods or knew of her, so she wasn’t bothered on her quest.  She saw a blanket she recognized as belonging to Shay forming the door of a makeshift tent.  Shay had constructed her ‘home’ to make it difficult to see inside of, so Lexa was about to knock on a piece of wood and call out to Shay when she heard a faint sniffle.

“Shay?”  Lexa called.  “It’s Lexa.”  Lexa heard no reply, but another faint sniffle.  She lifted the blanket that formed the door and found the woman she had been looking for on the ground.  Her young son, a sandy haired, gray eyed, five year old cried quietly beside her. Lexa knew she was too late before she knelt down and checked her pulse.  Shay was cold, and rigor mortis had started to set in.

“I’m sorry, Shay,” she whispered.

“Can you help my mom?”  The small boy asked her, his name was Aden, Lexa had met him many times.  “She won’t wake up.”

“I’m sorry, Aden.  She’s not going to wake up,” Lexa said softly.  “I can try to help you, though.”

Lexa knew that Shay didn’t want Aden in the system.  Shay herself was a product of the system and wanted better for Aden.  Lexa took out her cellphone and called the coroner.  She wished she could say this was the first dead body she had found.  The other two had been addicts who overdosed.  Shay wasn’t an addict, Lexa thought it was probably a stroke caused by the excessive heat that week.

“Okay, Aden,” Lexa began.  “We’re going to wait here for them to come and take care of your Mom.  Then I need to take you to let the doctors make sure you’re not sick, okay?”

“I’m scared,”  Aden cried.

“I’m going to do everything I can for you.”  She didn’t say _because I couldn’t save your mom_ , out loud.

She pulled Aden onto her lap and held him while he cried over his mother.  Shay was a good young woman who was dealt a series of bad hands.  The system had failed Shay Henry in every way it possibly could.

Aden cried himself to sleep on Lexa’s shoulder.  When she was sure he was out, she dialed Clarke’s cell.

“Hello love,” Clarke answered.

“I’m going to do something rash,” Lexa said.  “I don’t want you to talk me out of it, I need you to make it happen.”

“Tell me what you need,” Clarke used her attorney voice.  Lexa told Clarke the story of her day, including The Runaway’s.

“And you want to bring him home,” Clarke finished before Lexa could.

“Yes,” Lexa wasn’t really sure how she was keeping it together sitting feet away from a dead woman and holding her five year old son.  “I failed Shay, I can’t fail him, too.”

“Take him to Mom when you leave there,” Clarke instructed.  “I’ll call you back when I know something.”

Clarke called in every favor she had, she had a lot being an attorney with the ACLU.  According to his birth certificate, the boy’s name was Aden Michael Henry.  

****

Lexa arrived at TMC with Aden, she texted Abby and Clarke from the parking deck that she was at the hospital.  Aden held Lexa’s hand and let her lead him into the building.  Abby met them at the front desk.  She hugged Lexa, who really was starting to fray a little, before kneeling down to speak to Aden.

“Hello Aden, I’m Doctor Griffin.  I want to make sure that you’re not sick or hurt, okay,” Abby offered him a hand.  Aden kept hold of Lexa but nodded his assent at Abby.

Abby led them up to Peds where an exam room was waiting for them.  Aden refused to release Lexa even while Abby examined him.  He was a little underweight and slightly dehydrated, but otherwise he seemed physically fine.  

Abby took blood and gave them with a few cups of apple juice and water.  “Aden, I need you to drink these for me before I get back,”  Abby instructed.

Aden nodded.  Abby gave Lexa a quick once over and left the room.  

Aden examined an apple juice cup.  “Leksa, help,” he said.

“Oh, sorry, bud,” Lexa pulled back the foil lid and handed it back to him.

“Thank you,” he said and started drinking the juice.

Lexa stared at her phone, willing it to ring.

Aden finished the juice and took a water from where Abby left them.  He was a preschooler on a mission.

The exam room door opened unexpectedly startling both Lexa and Aden.  The boy grabbed hold of Lexa’s hand.

Clarke entered with her phone to her ear.  “Yeah, if you can get that to me here at the hospital as soon as possible I will be forever in your debt.  Thanks.”  Clarke hung up the phone and gave Lexa a quick kiss.  Aden looked at her curiously.

Clarke smiled at him, taking note of the boys grip on her wife.  “Hello Aden, my name is Clarke.”

He sized her up a moment longer before deciding that Clarke was okay.  “Hello, Klark,” he looked between his savior and the blonde.  “You kissed Leksa.”

“I did,” Clarke nodded seriously.  “It’s okay though, we’ve been married for nine years.”

“Nine years is a long time,” Aden said seriously.

“I like her, so it goes by fast,” Clarke smiled.

“I like her, too,” Aden admitted. “I think her saved me.”

“ _She_ might have,” Clarke agreed while gently correcting Aden’s pronoun.

“Are you gonna take me away?”  Aden asked tugging slightly at Lexa’s hand.

“If by away you mean take you home with Lexa and I.  If that’s okay with you?” Clarke told him.

“I can stay with Leksa?”  His worries abated for the time being.

“You can,” Clarke nodded.  “I made sure of it.”

“Thank you, Klark,” he said.

****

Abby came back a little while later while Clarke and Aden were getting to know each other.

Lexa and Clarke both looked at her expectantly.  “He’s fine,” she said and handed Clarke an envelope.  “I think this was supposed to go to you.”

Clarke opened the envelope and presented the contents to Lexa.  It was all of the proper paperwork to grant Clarke and Lexa temporary custody while the state tried to locate any family.  Lexa knew there wasn’t anyone, but they still had to look.

They took him home, Clarke went up to make sure the guest room was child appropriate.  They rarely had guests, but Clarke had a habit of commandeering it as a makeshift office in the run up to a big case.   Lexa had called ahead and asked Gus not to bring the girls home until they had time to get Aden introduced to the new environment.

The boy was in awe of everything.  The house was nice but not opulent.  Gus had spent years restoring it to it’s original condition as much as possible.  The original gas lines and lights had been poorly converted to electricity at some point.  Gus redid the conversions and replaced mediocre fixtures with electrical pieces that looked like the gas fixtures of the period.  The original banister needed a lot of repair and refinishing.  The original floors had been poorly carpeted, Gus lovingly restored them to the original wood, replacing the bad boards and matching the finish.  Lexa was pretty sure Gus loved their house more than they did.

Clarke came back down and nodded at Lexa that the room was fine for the night.  They would have to go out tomorrow and make some decorating changes.  Aden hovered at Lexa’s leg, clutching her hand.  Clarke never felt more aware of her privilege than at this moment when a terrified, small boy who never had a home gaped at the kitchen with it’s floor to ceiling cabinets.

Clarke knelt down to meet Aden’s eye, “It’s okay little man, this is your home now, too.”

Aden stared at her on the verge of tears.

Clarke looked up at Lexa asking for help.  Lexa knelt down, “It’s a bit much, huh?”

A fat silent tear rolled down Aden’s cheek as he nodded.  

Lexa held open her arms and he nestled himself between them.  “Let’s go up and see your room, okay?”

Aden nodded and allowed Lexa to pick him up and carry him up the stairs.

****

An hour later a calmer Aden was sitting with Lexa and Clarke on the living room sofa when Gus came in with Roma, Tris, and a stack of pizzas.  He also had a few bags from a big box retailer containing a few days worth of clothes in the boys size.

Roma ran into the living room, “Mom, Momma!  Grampa says I got a brohver!”  She stopped in her tracks when she saw Aden snuggled up to Lexa.  “Hi!  I’m Romy!”  She practically bounced in excitement.

Two year old Tris ran into the room and smacked into Romy.  “Mommy, Momma!”  Tris pushed past her sister and climbed up onto Clarke’s lap and hugged and kissed her Mommy before taking in the bigger boy next to her Momma.

Aden sat forward, “I’m Aden.”

“‘Den!”  Tris shouted.

Gus called from the dining room, “Soup’s on!”

“Soup!”  Tris shouted and jumped off of Clarke speeding off to her grandfather.

“It’s not soup, it’s pizza!”  Romy shouted.  Then quieter to Aden, “Do you like pizza?”

Aden nodded.

****

Three months and one court appearance later and the adoption was completed, no other family could be located and Aden became Aden Michael Henry Griffin-Woods.  He was a month younger than Romy and Lexa couldn’t help but notice the similarities to her and Lincoln.

****

**September 2026**

Lexa was in the final stretch, the permits were approved, the state regulatory agencies were on board, the money was almost there.  One final fundraising push.  

In formal gowns at a Gala event partially funded by the ACLU, partially funded by a housing equity firm she had once worked for, and partially funded by generous grant from the Reyes-Woods Foundation, Lexa glad handed and schmoozed her way into securing enough money to open Arcadia House, a shelter for LGBTQIA teens in crisis.  The city donated a building in Treme, Jake and Gus had already worked with an architect to draw up the plans to turn the upper floors into twelve four bed dormitory rooms.  A cafeteria would take up most of the second floor, Lexa wanted to be able to feed as many kids as she could even if she couldn’t get beds for all of them.  The first floor would consist mainly of a game room, television room, classroom, and counseling services.

“May I have this dance?”  Clarke purred in her wife's ear.

“You may,” she led Clarke to the dance floor.

“Hello, beautiful, brilliant, wife of mine,” Clarke smiled.  “You’ve been very busy tonight.”

“I have,” Lexa agreed.  “We’re fully funded, though.”

“That’s great, love,” Clarke smiled.  “I’m so proud of you.”

****

**April 2037**

The entirety of the Griffin and Woods clans are in the Griffin’s backyard.  Gus and Jake are drinking beers and being old men while Linc and Raven are grilling steaks in celebration of Clarke’s big news instead of the traditional Easter feast.  Octavia and the twins are setting the picnic tables.

“That’s Judge Griffin-Woods to you,” Clarke raised an eyebrow at her sister-in-law.  The call had come on Friday.

“You’ll always be Princess Clarke to me,” Anya smiled.

“It’s weird,” Clarke started.  “Does settling all of those whose toy is it and whose turn is it arguments qualify me to decide cases in Federal court?”

“Mom!”  Tris shouted.  “Aden’s a jackass!”

“Oh, look, more practice,” Anya chuckled.

“Aden, you’re a grown man who’s going to college in the fall, stop stealing your sister’s Easter candy,” Clarke called.

“This is what happens when you don’t get me jelly beans,” Aden plopped on the grass next to Clarke holding Tris’ bag of Jelly Belly’s.  Aden had grown into a handsome young man.  He was tall with an average build, he seemed small compared to Gus and Linc, but looked more normal sized next to Jake.  Jake enjoyed how often people would tell him that his grandson looked just like him.  Aden played football and baseball and would be playing baseball at Tulane next spring.  He idolized his Momma and had already decided to follow her into public service.  He loved his Mom, but Lexa had been his hero since he was five, he wanted to be just like her.  

“You said you didn’t want an Easter basket, I asked,” Clarke said.

“I said I didn’t want a basket, I still want the candy,” he popped a few jelly beans in his mouth.

Lexa came out of the house with Romy carrying veggies for the grill.  Romy looked like Clarke with Lexa’s wild chestnut curls, she was an inch taller than Clarke but still an inch shorter than Lexa.  She lacked Clarke’s beauty mark, but had her chin dimple.  Romy was also going to Tulane in the fall, she planned to go to medical school like her grandmother and Aunt Anya.  Romy was as studious and contemplative as Lexa.  

Tris tackled Aden from behind and snatched her jelly beans away from him, she rolled away, jumped up, and took off running.  At fifteen, Tris was Lexa with sandy blonde hair, all long limbs, big green eyes, and diamond cut features.  Tris played basketball, volleyball, and ran track.  She was as brilliant as her mothers and older siblings with Clarke’s more reckless nature.  Tris shared Jake’s aptitude for engineering and was already being watched by his alma mater, CalTech.

****

They situated themselves around the tables in the yard.  Jake stood and raised his beer.  Even at seventy-four Jake was still in good shape and his eyes twinkled with more mischief than they did when he was still a young man.  His sandy blonde hair had gone silver and Abby called him her silver fox.  They had both finally retired nine years ago and mostly spent time volunteering at Arcadia House.

“Sit down you old fart,” Gus laughed.  At sixty-seven Gus’ hair had long since gone iron gray.  He was in just as good shape as Jake, they exercised together every day, after all.  Indra still didn’t look a day over forty, her hair was a little gray, but still mostly black even at sixty-six.

“Shut up you big ass,” Jake said.  “To my baby girl, the Federal Circuit Court judge!”

“To Clarke!”  Everyone toasted.

****

**May 2089**

At ninety-six years old, Clarke slips away quietly in her sleep one night.  Lexa follows a few minutes behind her, because that’s what she does.  They left the world a better place than they found it.

They left behind Roma, Aden, and Tris and seven grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren and counting.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The LiaFT AU continues in:
> 
> Chasing Cars: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10688451
> 
> and
> 
> Tris the Tree Warrior: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10932633

**Author's Note:**

> https://fairytalesareawful.tumblr.com/


End file.
